Richard Stallman Critiques AI, Connected Cars, Smartphones, and DRM
Richard Stallman spoke Friday at Atlanta’s Georgia Institute of Technology, continuing his activism for free software while also addressing today’s new technologies.

Speaking about AI, Stallman warned that “nowadays, people often use the term artificial intelligence for things that aren’t intelligent at all…” He makes a point of calling lar … ⌘ Read more

US Congress Fails to Repeal ‘Kill Switch’ for Cars Mandate
Newsweek reports on how the U.S. Congress is debating “kill switch” technology for vehicles, “which would be able to monitor diver behavior, detect impairment such as intoxication and intervene…”

“While the technology is not yet a legal requirement in cars, Congress passed a law with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 that requires the Depar … ⌘ Read more

The Android ‘NexPhone’: Linux on Demand, Dual-Boots Into Windows 11 - and Transforms Into a Workstation
The “NexDock” (from Nex Computer) already turns your phone into a laptop workstation. Purism chose it as the docking station for their Librem 5 phones.

But now Nex is offering its own smartphone “that runs Android 16, launches Debian, and dual-boots into Windows 11,” acco … ⌘ Read more

The Case Against Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
Small modular nuclear reactors (or SMRs) are touted as “cheaper, safer, faster to build and easier to finance” than conventional nuclear reactors, reports CNN. Amazon has invested in X-Energy, and earlier this month, Meta announced a deal with Oklo, and in Michigan last month, Holtec began the long formal licensing process for two SMRs with America’s Nuclear Regulatory Commis … ⌘ Read more

The Risks of AI in Schools Outweigh the Benefits, Report Says
This month saw results from a yearlong global study of “potential negative risks that generative AI poses to student”. The study (by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education) also suggests how to prevent risks and maximize benefits:

After interviews, focus groups, and consultations with over 500 students, teachers, parents, education … ⌘ Read more

Former Canonical Developer Advocate Warns Snap Store Isn’t Safe After Slow Responses to Malware Reports
An anonymous reader shared this article from the blog Linuxiac
In a blog post, Alan Pope, a longtime Ubuntu community figure and former Canonical employee who remains an active Snap publisher… [warns of] a persistent campaign of malicious snaps impersonating cryptoc … ⌘ Read more

Google’s ‘AI Overviews’ Cite YouTube For Health Queries More Than Any Medical Sites, Study Suggests
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Guardian:

Google’s search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each m … ⌘ Read more

Infotainment, EV Charger Exploits Earn $1M at Pwn2Own Automotive 2026
Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative sponsored its third annual Pwn2Own Automotive competition in Tokyo this week, receiving 73 entries, the most ever for a Pwn2Own event.

“Under Pwn2Own rules, all disclosed vulnerabilities are reported to affected vendors through ZDI,” reports Help Net Security, “with public disclosure delayed to allow time … ⌘ Read more

Work-From-Office Mandate? Expect Top Talent Turnover, Culture Rot
CIO magazine reports that “the push toward in-person work environments will make it more difficult for IT leaders to retain and recruit staff, some experts say.”

“In addition to resistance, there would also be the risk of talent turnover,” [says Lawrence Wolfe, CTO at marketing firm Converge]… “The truth is, both physical and virtual collabora … ⌘ Read more

Airlines Cancel Over 10,000 US Flights Due To Massive Winter Storm
“Airlines canceled more than 10,000 U.S. flights scheduled for this weekend,” reports CNBC, “as a massive winter storm sweeps across the country, with heavy snow and sleet forecast, followed by bitter cold… set to snarl travel for hundreds of thousands of people for days.”

More than 3,500 flights on Saturday were canceled, according to flig … ⌘ Read more

Cheap Green Tech Allows Faster Path To Electrification For the Developing World
Slashdot reader Mr. Dollar Ton summarizes this article from Bloomberg:

According to a new report from think tank “Ember”, the availability of cheap green tech can have developing countries profit from earlier investment and skip steps in the transition from fossil to alternatives.

India is put forward as an exa … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft 365 Endured 9+ Hours of Outages Thursday
Early Friday “there were nearly 113 incidents of people reporting issues with Microsoft 365 as of 1:05 a.m. ET,” reports Reuters. But that’s down “from over 15,890 reports at its peak a day earlier, according to Downdetector.” Reuters points out the outage affected antivirus software Microsoft Defender and data governance software Microsoft Purview, while CRN notes it also imp … ⌘ Read more

AI Luminaries Clash At Davos Over How Close Human-Level Intelligence Really Is
An anonymous reader shared this report from Fortune

The large language models (LLMs) that have captivated the world are not a path to human-level intelligence, two AI experts asserted in separate remarks at Davos. Demis Hassabis, the Nobel Prize-winning CEO of Google DeepMind, and the executive who leads the development of … ⌘ Read more

NASA Confident, But Some Critics Wonder if Its Orion Spacecraft is Safe to Fly
“NASA remains confident it has a handle on the problem and the vehicle can bring the crew home safely,” reports CNN.

But “When four astronauts begin a historic trip around the moon as soon as February 6, they’ll climb aboard NASA’s 16.5-foot-wide Orion spacecraft with the understanding that it has a known flaw — on … ⌘ Read more

US Insurer ‘Lemonade’ Cuts Rates 50% for Drivers Using Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ Software
An anonymous reader shared this report from Reuters:

U.S. insurer Lemonade said on Wednesday it would offer a 50% rate cut for drivers of Tesla electric vehicles when the automaker’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software is steering because it had data showing it reduced accidents. Lem … ⌘ Read more

A Game Studio’s Fired Co-Founder Hijacked Its Domain Name, a New Lawsuit Alleges
Three co-founders of the game studio That’s No Moon “are suing another co-founder for allegedly hijacking the company’s website domain name,” reports the gaming news site Aftermath, “taking the website offline and disabling employee access to email accounts, according to a new lawsuit.”

Tina Kowalewski, Taylor Kuro … ⌘ Read more

Anthropic Updates Claude’s ‘Constitution,’ Just In Case Chatbot Has a Consciousness
TechCrunch reports:

On Wednesday, Anthropic released a revised version of Claude’s Constitution, a living document that provides a “holistic” explanation of the “context in which Claude operates and the kind of entity we would like Claude to be….” For years, Anthropic has sought to distinguish itself from its compe … ⌘ Read more

Hollywood Tries To Take Pirate Sites Down Globally Through India Court
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: The High Court in New Delhi, India, has granted another pirate site blocking order in favor of American movie industry giants, including Apple, Warner., Netflix, Disney and Crunchyroll. The injunction targets notorious pirate sites, requesting blockades at Indian ISPs. More crucial … ⌘ Read more

Smartwatches Help Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythms 4x More Often In Clinical Trial
A clinical trial found that seniors at high stroke risk who wore an Apple Watch were four times more likely to have hidden heart rhythm disorders detected than those receiving standard care. The researchers noted that over half the time, these smartwatch wearers with heart rhythm problems hadn’t shown any symptoms … ⌘ Read more

Study Shows How Earthquake Monitors Can Track Space Junk Through Sonic Booms
A new study shows that earthquake monitoring networks can track falling space debris by detecting the sonic booms produced during atmospheric reentry, sometimes more accurately than radar. The Associated Press reports: Scientists reported Thursday that seismic readings from sonic booms that were generated when a discarde … ⌘ Read more

New Filtration Technology Could Be Gamechanger In Removal of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’
Bruce66423 shares a report from the Guardian: New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate than previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations. Researchers also say they have also found … ⌘ Read more

California Becomes First State To Join WHO Disease Network After US Exit
California became the first U.S. state to join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), one day after the U.S. formally exited the WHO. The Hill reports: This announcement comes just one day after the U.S.’s withdrawal from the WHO became official after nearly 80 years of membership, havin … ⌘ Read more

Campaigner Launches $2 Billion Legal Action In UK Against Apple Over Wallet’s ‘Hidden Fees’
Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from the Guardian: The financial campaigner James Daley has launched a 1.5 billion pound (approximately $1.5 billion) class action lawsuit against Apple over its mobile phone wallet, claiming the U.S. tech company blocked competition and charged hid … ⌘ Read more

Justice Department Opens Criminal Probe Into Silicon Valley Spy Allegations
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Deel over allegations that it recruited a spy inside rival Rippling, according to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal. From the report: An Ireland-based Rippling employee, Keith O’Brien, alleged in an affidavit filed in April that Deel Chief Executi … ⌘ Read more

TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: When TikTok users in the U.S. opened the app today, they were greeted with a pop-up asking them to agree to the social media platform’s new terms of service and privacy policy before they could resume scrolling. These changes are part of TikTok’s transition to new ownership. In order to continue operating in the U.S., … ⌘ Read more

White House Labels Altered Photo of Arrested Minnesota Protester a ‘Meme’
The White House doubled down after posting a digitally altered photo of Minnesota protester Nekima Levy Armstrong, dismissing it as a “meme” despite objections from her attorney and comparisons to reality-distorting propaganda. “YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our co … ⌘ Read more

PowerShell Architect Retires After Decades At the Prompt
Jeffrey Snover, the driving force behind PowerShell, has retired after a career that reshaped Windows administration. The Register reports: Snover’s retirement comes after a brief sojourn at Google as a Distinguished Engineer, following a lengthy stint at Microsoft, during which he pulled the company back from imposing a graphical user interface (GUI) on adminis … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Gave FBI a Set of BitLocker Encryption Keys To Unlock Suspects’ Laptops
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Microsoft provided the FBI with the recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptops as part of a federal investigation, Forbes reported on Friday. Many modern Windows computers rely on full-disk encryption, called BitLocker, which is ena … ⌘ Read more

Toilet Maker Toto’s Shares Get Unlikely Boost From AI Rush
An anonymous reader shares a report: Shares of Japanese toilet maker Toto gained the most in five years after booming memory demand excited expectations of growth in its little-known chipmaking materials operations. The stock surged as much as 11%, its steepest rise since February 2021, after Goldman Sachs analysts said Toto’s electrostatic chucks used in NAND chi … ⌘ Read more

The Great Graduate Job Drought
Global hiring remains 20% below pre-pandemic levels and job switching has hit a 10-year low, according to a LinkedIn report, and new university graduates are bearing the brunt of a labor market that increasingly favors experienced candidates over fresh talent.

In the UK, the Institute of Student Employers found that graduate hiring fell 8% in the last academic year and employers now receive 140 applications for each … ⌘ Read more

Wall Street Pushes Solo 401(k)s as More Americans Work for Themselves
An anonymous reader shares a report: A niche retirement plan favored by freelancers is quickly becoming a hot Wall Street sales pitch, as more and more Americans look for ways to shelter a bigger chunk of their paychecks from taxes. Known as solo 401(k)s, they allow the self-employed to contribute $72,000 a year into tax-advantaged retire … ⌘ Read more

China Makes Too Many Cars, and the World Is Increasingly OK With It
After years of Western governments raising alarms about Chinese automotive overcapacity and erecting tariff barriers, an unexpected pivot is now underway as major economies cautiously open their markets to Chinese electric vehicles, Bloomberg writes. Beijing itself has started acknowledging the problem at home. Chinese regulators last week w … ⌘ Read more

Solar and Wind Overtake Fossil Fuels in the EU
Wind and solar power overtook fossil fuels last year as a source of electricity in the EU for the first time, a new report found. Semafor adds: The milestone was hit largely thanks to a rise in solar power, which generated a record 13% of electricity in the EU, according to Ember. Together, wind and solar hit 30% of EU electricity generation, edging out fossil fuels at 29%.

The … ⌘ Read more

Toronto Man Posed as Pilot To Rack Up Hundreds of Free Flights, Prosecutors Say
A Toronto man posed as a pilot for years in order to fool airlines into giving him hundreds of free flights, prosecutors have alleged, in a case that has prompted comparisons to the Hollywood thriller Catch Me If You Can. From a report: Authorities in Hawaii announced this week that Dallas Pokornik, 33, had been charge … ⌘ Read more

Apple’s Secret Product Plans Stolen in Luxshare Cyberattack
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Apple supplier subject to a major cyberattack last month was China’s Luxshare, it has now emerged. More than 1TB of confidential Apple information was reportedly stolen.

It was reported in December that one of Apple’s assemblers suffered a significant cyberattack that may have compromised sensitive production-line … ⌘ Read more

When Two Years of Academic Work Vanished With a Single Click
Marcel Bucher, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Cologne in Germany, lost two years of carefully structured academic work in an instant when he temporarily disabled ChatGPT’s “data consent” option in August to test whether the AI tool’s functions would still work without providing OpenAI his data. All his chats were permanently delete … ⌘ Read more

Anthropic’s AI Keeps Passing Its Own Company’s Job Interview
Anthropic has a problem that most companies would envy: its AI model keeps getting so good, the company wrote in a blog post, that it passes the company’s own hiring test for performance engineers. The test, designed in late 2023 by optimization lead Tristan Hume, asks candidates to speed up code running on a simulated computer chip. Over 1,000 people have take … ⌘ Read more

Apple Accuses European Commission of ‘Political Delay Tactics’ To Justify Fines
Apple has accused the European Commission of using “political delay tactics” to postpone new app marketplace policies and create grounds for investigating and fining the iPhone maker, a preemptive response to reports that the commission plans to blame Apple for the announced closure of third-party app store Setapp.

M … ⌘ Read more

‘Almost Everyone’ Laid Off at Vimeo Following Bending Spoons Buyout
Vimeo is laying off employees around the world just months after Italian software company Bending Spoons completed its $1.38 billion acquisition of the video hosting platform. Dave Brown, Vimeo’s former brand VP, described the cuts on LinkedIn as affecting “a large portion of the company.” One video engineer claimed “almost everyone” was laid off, … ⌘ Read more

US Formally Withdraws From WHO
The United States formally withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday, making good on an executive order that President Trump issued on his first day in office pledging to leave the international organization that coordinates global responses to public health threats. The New York Times: While the United States is walking away from the organization, a senior official with the Department of Health … ⌘ Read more

TikTok Finalizes Deal To Form New American Entity
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years. The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will … ⌘ Read more

‘Active’ Sitting Is Better For Brain Health
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: A systematic review of 85 studies has now found good reason to differentiate between ‘active’ sitting, like playing cards or reading, and ‘passive’ sitting, like watching TV. […] “Total sitting time has been shown to be related to brain health; however, sitting is often treated as a single entity, without considering the specific … ⌘ Read more

AI Boosts Research Careers But Flattens Scientific Discovery
Ancient Slashdot reader erice shares the findings from a recent study showing that while AI helped researchers publish more often and boosted their careers, the resulting papers were, on average, less useful. “You have this conflict between individual incentives and science as a whole,” says James Evans, a sociologist at the University of Chicago who … ⌘ Read more

South Korea Launches Landmark Laws To Regulate AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Korea Herald: South Korea will begin enforcing its Artificial Intelligence Act on Thursday, becoming the first country to formally establish safety requirements for high-performance, or so-called frontier, AI systems – a move that sets the country apart in the global regulatory landscape. According to the Ministry of Science and IC … ⌘ Read more

Intel Struggles To Meet AI Data Center Demand
Intel says it struggled to satisfy demand for its AI data-center CPUs while new PC chips squeeze margins. CEO Lip-Bu Tan framed the turnaround as supply-constrained, not demand-constrained, with manufacturing yields (18A) improving but still below targets. Reuters reports: The forecast underscores the difficulties faced by Intel in predicting global chip markets, where the company’s curre … ⌘ Read more

Epic and Google Have a Secret $800 Million Unreal Engine and Services Deal
A federal judge revealed a previously undisclosed ~$800 million, six-year partnership between Epic Games and Google tied to Unreal Engine services and joint marketing. It raises questions about whether the deal influenced Epic’s willingness to settle its antitrust case over Android. The Verge reports: [California District Judge … ⌘ Read more

EU Parliament Calls For Detachment From US Tech Giants
The European Parliament is calling on the European Commission to reduce dependence on U.S. tech giants by prioritizing EU-based cloud, AI, and open-source infrastructure. The report frames “European Tech First,” public procurement reform, and Public Money, Public Code as necessary self-defense against growing U.S. control over critical digital infrastructure. Heise repor … ⌘ Read more

New Jersey Law Requires E-Bike Drivers To Have License, Insurance
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: As one of his final acts in office, former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law new requirements for e-bikes in his state. The new legislation signed Monday requires that owners and operators of e-bikes have licenses, registration and insurance. Owners and operators of e-bikes must be at l … ⌘ Read more

The Microsoft-OpenAI Files
Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: GeekWire takes a look at AI’s defining alliance in The Microsoft-OpenAI Files, an epic story drawn from 200+ documents, many made public Friday in Elon Musk’s ongoing suit accusing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of abandoning the nonprofit mission (Microsoft is also a defendant). Musk, who was an OpenAI co-founder, is seeking up to $134 billion in damages. “Previously undisclosed emails, … ⌘ Read more

Waymo Launches Robotaxi Service In Miami, Extending US Lead
Waymo has launched its paid robotaxi service in Miami, marking its sixth U.S. market and the company’s first expansion of 2026. CNBC reports: As U.S. competition has lagged, Waymo’s planned 2026 expansions could lock in rider demand and loyalty in the U.S. To start, Waymo will offer its services within a 60-square-mile area that includes Miami’s Design Dist … ⌘ Read more