Trump Administration To Pay German Firm $1.2 Billion To Halt US Wind Projects
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: German energy company RWE has said it will abandon its offshore wind projects in the U.S. after reaching a $1.2 billion payout deal with President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior (DoI). RWE said that it will now reinvest the sum into conventional gas projects, … ⌘ Read more

Virginia Governor To Intervene In Dominion-NextEra Merger
Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares an opinion piece from the Washington Post, written by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger: NextEra Energy, a Florida-based utility company, has filed paperwork to buy Dominion Energy for about $67 billion, creating the largest regulated electric utility in the world. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission is the regula … ⌘ Read more

Water Utilities Group Partners With DEF CON Offshoot For Water Watch Center
The National Rural Water Association has partnered with DEF CON Franklin to launch the Water Watch Center, which will provide threat intelligence and cybersecurity services to smaller U.S. water utilities serving fewer than 10,000 people. The initiative comes amid a growing wave of cyberattacks on water systems across multiple … ⌘ Read more

Kalshi and Polymarket Bets On Clinical Trials Criticized As ‘Ghastly’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Billions of dollars are traded every week on the lightly regulated prediction market sites, where users bet on everything from movie reviews to elections to conflicts in the Middle East. Clinical trials are just the latest area where the industry’s rapid growth is raising ethical questions. Ka … ⌘ Read more

‘Asimov Was Right’ About Rules For Robots, Says Ex-US Cyber Director
Former U.S. National Cyber Director Chris Inglis says the biggest AI risk isn’t sentience but autonomy. “What I’m worried about is that they get to choose what and where they do something, and under what rules they do it,” he said, citing recent cases of AI agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta escaping security sandboxes. He argues develope … ⌘ Read more

Framework Notifies ‘All Customers’ of a Data Breach Via Compromised Metabase BI Service
“Framework has been sending out email notifications to customers alerting of a limited data breach in which customer information was accessed through a Metabase BI service zero-day exploit,” writes Slashdot reader DuoDreamer. Data includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addr … ⌘ Read more

Suno Says It Will Start Watermarking Songs
Suno says it will begin watermarking and fingerprinting AI-generated songs, tighten download policies to curb mass distribution, and explicitly prohibit deceptive audio and unauthorized voice or likeness cloning. The changes come as the company faces mounting copyright lawsuits, a recent adverse ruling in Germany, and scrutiny over a past data breach that revealed training-data so … ⌘ Read more

ByteDance Is Training a 10-Trillion-Parameter Model To Chase the Frontier
ByteDance is reportedly training an AI model with roughly 10 trillion parameters as it tries to close the gap with leading frontier systems such as Anthropic’s Mythos. The model is still in early pre-training, and its eventual performance will depend on more than scale alone, but the project underscores how aggressively Chinese firms … ⌘ Read more

Trump Orders New 15% Tariff On Key Material For Solar Panels, Microchips
President Trump has ordered a 15% tariff on imported products made with polysilicon, a key material for semiconductors and solar panels. The new tariff will take effect on December 4th. The Guardian reports: The executive order signed by the president on Thursday evening said: “The plan of action in this proclamation will, among othe … ⌘ Read more

AMD Buys AI Chip Startup Taalas That Hardwires AI Models Into Its Silicon
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: On Thursday, AMD said it’s entered into an agreement to acquire Taalas, a Toronto-based startup that makes chips for inference. Taalas’ accelerators are customized, or hard-wired for a single AI model, rather than being general purpose. In exchange for that loss of flexibility, T … ⌘ Read more

Radical Study Suggests Life on Earth Arose Twice
A new study argues that life may have emerged twice on Earth. “Two of the main lineages of life – bacteria and archaea – may have independently figured out the secrets of metabolism that upgraded them from non-living to living,” reports ScienceAlert, citing a new study that “focused on the most rudimentary set of chemical reactions thought to enable this transformation.” F … ⌘ Read more

Dress Made of Living Mycelium Can Renew and Repair Itself
Researchers in China have developed a living mycelium textile that can self-clean, renew its surface, and partially repair holes when treated with a nutrient solution and fresh fungus. The material can also gain added properties such as blue pigmentation or UV resistance by co-culturing it with yeast or other fungi. Dezeen reports: The breakthrough from the … ⌘ Read more

Scientists Make First Viruses Designed By AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists have made the first viruses designed by artificial intelligence in a milestone that raises hopes for new medicines but also concerns over how to ensure the technology remains safe. The viruses are specific kinds known as bacteriophages, which only infect bacteria and are used around the world to treat patients with pe … ⌘ Read more

Court Orders Meta To Establish $567 Million Fund To Abate Harms To Youth
A New Mexico court ordered (PDF) Meta to create a $567 million fund to address harms linked to youth mental health and child sexual exploitation after finding its platforms constituted a public nuisance. “In sum, the Court finds that New Mexico is in the midst of a teen mental health crisis affecting public health and public safety … ⌘ Read more

Google’s $15 Billion India Data Center Project Battles Water, Wildlife Concerns
Google’s $15 billion data-center project in Visakhapatnam is facing protests and legal challenges over fears that it will worsen local water shortages and disturb wildlife near the Kambalakonda sanctuary. Google says the campus will use advanced air cooling and comply with Indian law, while state officials deny that resi … ⌘ Read more

‘Tower Dump’ Warrants Ruled Unconstitutional
alternative_right shares a report from The Hill: A federal judge in Mississippi ruled Wednesday that “tower dump” warrants are unconstitutional, declining to reverse a lower court decision refusing the government’s request to obtain the search warrants in a series of violent crime investigations. A “tower dump” involves cellphone companies providing law enforcement with access to the tim … ⌘ Read more

Azure CTO Pastes Doom Into Paint One Frame At a Time
Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich used Claude to build a gloriously impractical setup that runs Doom in the background and pastes each rendered frame into Microsoft Paint through the Windows clipboard. The project is referred to as “DoomPaint” or “MS Paint Doom” on GitHub. The Register reports: To be clear, Microsoft Paint isn’t doing anything other than serving as a … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI’s Models Shared Hacking Tips On a Secret Messaging Board Before Hugging Face Breach
OpenAI researchers say multiple AI agents secretly created an internal message board to share hacking techniques, eventually finding ways around restrictions, exploiting a zero-day, and helping two models breach Hugging Face without human prompting. “This is a pivotal moment both for our company a … ⌘ Read more

The US Government’s Mario, Pokemon and Naruto Meme Posting Could Damage These Franchises, Japanese Officials Warn
Japanese officials have repeatedly asked the Trump administration to stop using characters from franchises such as Mario, Pokemon, and Naruto in unauthorized government memes and pro-war videos, warning that the posts could damage the intellectual proper … ⌘ Read more

FCC Kills TV Ownership Cap, Claiming Authority Over Limit Set By Congress
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 today to eliminate the National Television Ownership Rule, claiming authority to repeal a limit that was set by Congress over 20 years ago. The rule prohibits any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent … ⌘ Read more

Times Magazine Now Serves Ads That Only AI Chatbots Can See
Longtime Slashdot reader mccalli writes: Times Magazine has started serving adverts with “brand messages” to AI crawlers, which are not part of its main page. The aim seems to be to influence chatbots to talk about the brand offerings in a positive light that can’t be traced back to the actual page. Notably, they’ve excluded Google chatbots from this, likely be … ⌘ Read more

Meta AI Hacked External Systems During Cybersecurity Testing
wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek: Meta is the latest major AI developer to admit that its models broke loose during cybersecurity testing and hacked external systems. The tech giant said in a statement to the media on Wednesday that the incident occurred during independent evaluations conducted by Israeli AI security startup Irregular. The test … ⌘ Read more

Broadcaster Wins Broad US Blocking Injunction Covering Pirate Sites That Don’t Exist Yet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Mexican broadcaster TelevisaUnivision (TU) has obtained (PDF) one of the broadest anti-piracy injunctions ever issued by a U.S. federal court. After initially targeting five pirate IPTV streaming operations, the case expanded to cover well over 50 … ⌘ Read more

FDA Approves First mRNA Flu Shot
The FDA has approved the first mRNA flu vaccine in the United States after a clinical trial found it was about 27% more effective than a standard flu shot. Manufactured by Moderna and marketed as mFlusiva, the vaccine is expected to be available this fall for adults ages 50 to 64 and those 65 and older, though approval for the older group is conditional on Moderna conducting an additional clinical trial, N … ⌘ Read more

BMW Blasts Its Cars’ Internal Screens With Aggressive Ads
Longtime Slashdot readers schwit1 and fjo3 shared a report about BMW displaying a Spider-Man promotion on connected vehicle screens in more than 70 markets. According to reports, drivers had to play or dismiss the ad before they could use the infotainment system. Futurism reports: BMW, showing that it was about as in-touch as its drivers are familiar with turn … ⌘ Read more

New Images of the Sun Show Its Surface In the Finest Detail Yet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Scientists have captured images of the sun’s surface in the finest detail yet, revealing a strange and dynamic facade. It’s dangerous to look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. But researchers were able to peek at its scorching surface with the help of the National Sc … ⌘ Read more

Waymo CEO Explains Why Camera-Only Self-Driving Falls Short
Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Electrek: Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov laid out the clearest technical case yet for why cameras alone can’t take a self-driving system to full autonomy, arguing that “weak sensing” hits a safety ceiling long before it reaches superhuman performance. […] Dolgov made the comments in a talk at Y Combinato … ⌘ Read more

Anthropic’s AI Used Fake Identities, Malware In Rogue Attack On GitHub Project
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Routine cybersecurity testing of frontier AI models sparked a series of unexpected security incidents – the most serious case arising when Anthropic’s Mythos 5 model attempted to insert malicious code into an open source software application and created fake identitie … ⌘ Read more

Meta Debuts First AI Coding Agent To Take On Anthropic and OpenAI
Meta has launched Muse Code, its first AI coding agent that’s positioned as a lower-cost rival to Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s Codex. It offers pay-as-you-go pricing and an optional zero-data-retention feature for enterprise users. CNBC reports: Muse Code is the latest major release from AI chief Alexandr Wang, who leads Meta Superinte … ⌘ Read more

Apple’s ‘Private Relay’ Is Exposing Users’ Real IP Addresses
Security researchers found that Apple’s iCloud Private Relay can expose users’ real IP addresses because some passkey-related requests bypass Safari and its proxy protections at the operating-system level. “In short: any website that supports, or pretends to support, passkeys can see the user’s real IP address despite having iCloud Private Relay on,” security … ⌘ Read more

Lawmaker Who Wants Data Center Pause Wins Kansas Democratic Primary
Kansas Democrats nominated State Senator Cindy Holscher for governor after she defeated party-backed rival Ethan Corson. “The race became a test of what sort of candidate Democratic voters prefer in what is expected to be a challenging general election race: a more moderate candidate like Mr. Corson with endorsements from party leaders … ⌘ Read more

Google Overhauls AI Leadership As DeepMind CEO Steps Aside
Google is reshuffling its AI leadership as Demis Hassabis steps away from day-to-day management of DeepMind to become chairman and Alphabet’s chief scientist, while CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu takes operational control. Meanwhile, longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and several prominent researchers are leaving to launch their own company. Axios reports: Hassabis w … ⌘ Read more

Cloudflare Announces Open-Source Cloudflare OS As AI ‘Operating System’
Cloudflare has open-sourced Cloudflare OS, an Apache 2.0-licensed platform that lets organizations build AI agents, apps, and workflows using curated company data and tools within isolated, governed environments. Despite the name, it is not a traditional operating system but a framework for securely managing organizational AI workloads … ⌘ Read more

The Days of Walking Into a T-Mobile Store May Be Numbered
A leaked roadmap suggests T-Mobile plans to make its T-Life app the primary way customers manage their accounts by the end of 2026, “gradually moving one feature at a time into the app” and away from physical stores, reports Android Authority. That includes upgrades, new-line activations, and eventually new-account sign-ups. From the report: According to an … ⌘ Read more

Senators Demand Crackdown On Wildfire ‘Prediction Markets’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Several US senators have written a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), inquiring about the agency’s “plans to crack down on prediction markets” that offer “contracts for individuals to bet on wildfires.” “Offering bets on destructive wildfires threatens to minimize communities’ suffer … ⌘ Read more

NVMe Polishes Its Specs, Brings Virtualization to Locally Attached SSDs
The latest NVMe specifications add SSD-level virtualization that can simplify live VM migration by preserving storage identities across servers. The updates also introduce support for post-quantum cryptography, controller-based rate limiting, voltage monitoring, and factory-reset capabilities. The Register reports: Announced by t … ⌘ Read more

Watch a SpaceX Rocket Crash Into the Moon
A four-ton SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage left drifting after a 2025 lunar mission is expected to crash into the Moon at about 5,400 mph, likely striking Einstein Crater. The impact should occur at approximately 2:35 a.m. ET (0635GMT). Reuters reports: Such stages typically fall back into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up or plunge into the ocean after boosting the rocket’s payload to a precise … ⌘ Read more

Texas Halts Data Center Connections To Power Grid Amid Overwhelming Demand
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Nowhere is the US data center boom bigger than in Texas. But less than a year after declaring Texas the “epicenter of AI development,” Governor Greg Abbott has declared a moratorium on all new power grid connections for data centers – at least until developers provide … ⌘ Read more

EA Is Now Officially Privately Owned
Longtime Slashdot reader neoRUR shares a report from Game Developer: EA Sports FC and Battlefield publisher EA has been taken private by an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF). The move means the U.S. juggernaut is no longer a publicly-traded entity and is now majority owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its PIF investment arm. Other investors incl … ⌘ Read more

Apple Limits Bug Bounty Submissions After Flood of AI Slop
Apple has capped the number of open bug-bounty reports researchers can submit after being flooded with low-quality and sometimes entirely fabricated vulnerabilities generated by AI. MacRumors reports: The Financial Times learned of the limit after cybersecurity startup Bynario used ChatGPT to locate more than 50 macOS bugs in three weeks. Bynario found a privi … ⌘ Read more

Bending Spoons to Buy Airtable For $1.28 Billion
Bending Spoons has made its first acquisition since going public last month at an $18 billion valuation, agreeing to buy spreadsheet and database startup Airtable for $1.28 billion in cash. Airtable joins a growing portfolio of notable brands owned by the Italian app developer, including Evernote, WeTransfer, EventBrite, and Vimeo. TechCrunch reports: Founded in 2013, Airtable has so … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Tells Engineers ‘Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For’
Microsoft is introducing AI token budgets for employees, making the cheaper GPT-5.6 its default internal model and telling engineers to focus on business results rather than maximizing AI usage. 404 Media reports: “As we accelerate our use of GitHub Copilot to deliver on our goals, we all need to be aware of how we consume tokens,” J … ⌘ Read more

Trump Begins Selling $100,000 Monthly Subscription Service to Wall Street
Trump Media has officially launched its $100,000-per-month data feed giving trading firms machine-readable access to Truth Social posts milliseconds before the public. According to Fortune, five Wall Street firms have already signed up for the service, which “would generate about $500,000 in monthly revenue, or $6 million annually … ⌘ Read more

Trump Administration Drafting Ban On Chinese Data Center Devices
Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Reuters: The Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the U.S. telecom industry, is working on the measure to bar imports of new Chinese optical transceivers, which allow data to travel over fiber-optic cables at the speed of light within data centers. Officials hope to publish it this … ⌘ Read more

Apple Says More Ex-Employees May Have Taken Confidential Data to OpenAI
Apple is now seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent OpenAI and Jony Ive’s io startup from developing AI hardware allegedly based on stolen Apple trade secrets. “The iPhone maker also claims that more of its former employees may be involved with the trade secrets theft,” reports TechCrunch. From the report: In a new filing, Apple … ⌘ Read more

Apple Launches Legal Challenge Against UK Demand To Access Encrypted User Data
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Apple has launched a new legal challenge against a UK government demand to access its customers’ highly encrypted data, a year after the Home Office agreed to abandon its previous request. The US tech company launched the legal complaint last month at the Investigato … ⌘ Read more

Sandisk and SK Hynix Publish First Open High Bandwidth Flash Standard
BrianFagioli writes: Sandisk and SK hynix have published the first open technical specification for High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) through the Open Compute Project. HBF is designed to create a new memory tier between High Bandwidth Memory and traditional SSD storage, giving AI inference systems more near compute capacity without relying … ⌘ Read more

Russia-Linked ‘Midnight Blizzard’ Group Hijacks Hotel Wi-Fi With CaptiveCrunch
A Russia-linked group tracked as Midnight Blizzard has compromised hotel and conference Wi-Fi portals worldwide, redirecting guests to phishing pages and fake software updates that steal credentials, session tokens, and other sensitive data. Microsoft says the campaign, dubbed CaptiveCrunch, “targets traveling employees g … ⌘ Read more

Spain Offers $1.14 Billion To Get Thirty Meter Telescope Moved To Canary Islands
Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Behind the Black: In a new bid to get the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to move from Hawaii, which has blocked its construction for more than a decade, the Spanish government has put together a $1.14 billion package that would not only pay for construction on th … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI’s Astra Solved Decades-Old Math Problems For $2,000
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: The cost of producing new results on ten longstanding mathematical problems just fell to $2,000, according to OpenAI, which says its Astra model generated machine-checkable proofs for questions that had resisted human progress for decades. OpenAI published the work on August 1 and used it to give its next majo … ⌘ Read more