Google To Allow ‘Experienced Users’ To Install Unverified Android Apps
Google says it will build a new “advanced flow” to allow experienced users to install Android apps from unverified developers, easing up on restrictions it proposed in late August. The company said earlier that Android would block such installations starting next year. The new flow will include clear warnings about security risks but wil … ⌘ Read more
Iceland Deems Possible Atlantic Current Collapse A Security Risk
Iceland has formally classified the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security threat, warning that a disruption could trigger a modern-day ice age in Northern Europe and destabilize global weather systems. The move elevates the risk across government and enables it to strategize for worst-case scenarios. Reut … ⌘ Read more
Editor’s Note: Security Human Validation
Stephan A. Schwartz, Editor - Schwartzreport
_Stephan: Even though we had several levels of security already installed, SR has been experiencing so many hacking attacks that it was getting difficult to publish it because the attacks kept screwing up the application we use to produce SR. So Beth Alexander, my wonderful web manager of many years, consulted with security specialists, and they told her we needed to add a human verification first … ⌘ Read more
Why it’s so hard to bust the weather control conspiracy theory
Dave Levitan, Climate Science Writer - MIT Technology Review
_Stephan: ”king” Trump, his administration, and his Congressional vassals are doing nothing about preparing for the ongoing climate change crisis, whose crescendo is estimated to be about 14 years from now. Instead, they seek to entrap the United States in carbon energy to serve the oligarchs who have funded Trump and the Republican Congr … ⌘ Read more
Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide
MARK SHERMAN, Supreme Court Reporter - Associated Press
_Stephan: The Epstein Trump pedophilia story has taken over the media, so I want to focus on some other major stories getting very little media attention. This is some good news, surprising in a way, given the MAGAt majority that dominates the Supreme Court. The good news is that the C … ⌘ Read more
‘No way we’re going back’: Canadians are flying just about anywhere but the US
Ewan Gleadow, Staff Writer - Raw Story
_Stephan: The damage “king” Trump has done to the wellbeing of the United States is historic, and it particularly stands out in international relationships. Canadians, Europeans, Chinese, and others aren’t choosing to visit. It has affected the tourism business, the importation by other nations of American goods, and the importat … ⌘ Read more
Common cents: US Mint to press its final penny
Associated Press Reporters, - Associated Press
Stephan: No more pennies. After 232 years, the little copper coins we have handled all our lives will cease to be coined. Here are the facts.
A die for a penny press is seen at the US Mint in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Credit: Matt Slocum / APThe US Mint in [Philadelphia](htt … ⌘ Read more
Alien: Earth Renewed For Second Season
FX has renewed Alien: Earth for a second season and signed creator Noah Hawley to a massive nine-figure overall deal with Disney Entertainment Television. Deadline reports: Inspired by Ridley Scott’s sci-fi thriller film Alien, Hawley adapted the film franchise for television with the strong support of Scott Free and its president, David W. Zucker, who is an executive producer of the serie … ⌘ Read more
China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomacy Returns With Threat Against Japan’s Leader
A Chinese diplomat’s call to cut off the prime minister’s “filthy neck” signaled a revival of a combative style Beijing had tried to dial back. ⌘ Read more
Trump Is Said to Propose Opening California Coast to Oil Drilling
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.” ⌘ Read more
Syria’s Leaders Pledge to Join Fight Against Islamic State
Large parts of Syria were once overrun by the terrorist group Islamic State. The country’s new government has just committed to a global effort to fight the group. ⌘ Read more
How France Remembers the November 2015 Terrorist Attacks in Paris
A decade ago, Islamic State militants killed 130 people in an assault that shocked France. Some survivors are still struggling, but for many of their compatriots, memories of the attacks are growing more distant. ⌘ Read more
Study provides new forecasts of remote islands’ vulnerability to sea level rise
In the summer of 2022, 20 islands in the Maldives were flooded when a distant swell event in the Indian Ocean coincided with an extremely high tide level. ⌘ Read more
Scientists Watch Supernova Shockwave Shoot Through a Dying Star For First Time
For the first time, astronomers captured the shockwave of a supernova bursting through the surface of a dying red supergiant star, revealing a surprisingly symmetrical, grape-shaped explosion. Space.com reports: Seeing this moment in detail has previously been elusive because it’s rare for a supernova to be spotted … ⌘ Read more
South Asia on Edge
There are no known links between two bomb attacks in India and Pakistan, but they come as tensions between the countries are already high. ⌘ Read more
How France Remembers the November 2015 Terrorist Attacks in Paris
A decade ago, Islamic State militants killed 130 people in an assault that shocked France. Some survivors are still struggling, but for many of their compatriots, memories of the attacks are growing more distant. ⌘ Read more
Toyota Opens the Doors To Its First EV Battery Plant In the US
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Production is now underway at Toyota’s new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina, the company’s first outside Japan. After the first batteries rolled off the production line at its new facility in Liberty, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Toyota said today marks a “pivotal moment” in the company … ⌘ Read more
Rubio Shrugs Off Allies’ Concerns Over U.S. Drug Strikes
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no one raised the Caribbean military operation in closed-door meetings at a G7 summit. But ministers from France and the European Union publicly called them unlawful. ⌘ Read more
Russia’s AI Robot Falls Seconds After Being Unveiled
Russia’s first AI humanoid robot, Aldol, fell just seconds after its debut at a technology event in Moscow on Tuesday. “The robot was being led on stage to the soundtrack from the film ‘Rocky,’ before it suddenly lost its balance and fell,” reports the BBC. “Assistants could then be seen scrambling to cover it with a cloth – which ended up tangling in the process.” … ⌘ Read more
As homes get hotter, new research aims to tackle issue of indoor heat waves
With discussions at COP30 pushing for sustainable cooling and AI innovation, research by the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow has found a new way of detecting indoor mini-heat waves and the factors influencing these. ⌘ Read more
Rubio Shrugs Off Allies’ Concerns Over U.S. Drug Strikes
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no one raised the Caribbean military operation in closed-door meetings at a G7 summit. But ministers from France and the European Union publicly called them unlawful. ⌘ Read more
Rubio Shrugs Off Allies’ Concerns Over U.S. Drug Strikes
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no one raised the Caribbean military operation in closed-door meetings at a G7 summit. But ministers from France and the European Union publicly called them unlawful. ⌘ Read more
AI-Generated Song Tops Country Music Chart
Slashdot readers Tablizer and fjo3 share news that an AI-generated country song has topped the U.S. sales chart for the first time this week. ABC News reports: The new country tune, “Walk my Walk” by Breaking Rust, recently hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, reaching over 3 million streams on Spotify in less than a month. That success has garnered mixed rea … ⌘ Read more
Waymo Robotaxis Are Now Giving Rides On Freeways
Waymo is rolling out robotaxi rides that use freeways across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix for the first time – “a critical expansion for the company that it says will reduce ride times by up to 50%,” reports TechCrunch. From the report: That stat could help attract a whole new group of users who need to travel between the many towns and suburbs within the greater San … ⌘ Read more
Anthropic To Spend $50 Billion On US AI Infrastructure
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Anthropic announced plans Wednesday to spend $50 billion on a U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out, starting with custom data centers in Texas and New York. The facilities, which will be designed to support the company’s rapid enterprise growth and its long-term research agenda, will be developed in part … ⌘ Read more
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Head for a Record in 2025, Global Carbon Project Reports
But there are signs that greenhouse gas pollution in China might be slowing, according to a new analysis. ⌘ Read more
Former Syrian Security Official Indicted in Austria
Prosecutors say a Syrian security official accused of torture hid in plain sight in Europe for years, protected by Israeli and Austrian intelligence agents. ⌘ Read more
Iraq’s Prime Minister Leads in Elections but May Struggle to Form a Government
Mohammed al-Sudani pitches himself as someone who can keep Iranian influence in check, but his vote share may not be big enough to ensure a clear political victory. ⌘ Read more
Ask Slashdot: Are There Any Good Android Tablets Out There?
Longtime Slashdot reader hadleyburg writes: For a user with an Android phone and who’s happy to stick within the Google ecosystem, an Android tablet might seem like the more obvious choice over an iPad. Of course, iPads are a lot more popular, and asking about Android tablets is likely to invite advice about sticking with what everyone else has.
The Slashdot … ⌘ Read more
Valve Rejoins the VR Hardware Wars With Standalone Steam Frame
Valve is ready to rejoin the VR hardware race with the Steam Frame, a lightweight standalone SteamOS headset that can run games locally or stream wirelessly from a PC using new “foveated streaming” tech. It’s set to launch in early 2026. Ars Technica reports: Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 16 GB of RAM, the Steam Frame sports a 216 … ⌘ Read more
Labour Party’s Internal Fight Goes Public, as Starmer’s Trouble Grows
An attempt by Keir Starmer’s allies to undercut a rival has forced into the open a party debate over whether to replace the prime minister. ⌘ Read more
OpenAI Fights Order To Turn Over Millions of ChatGPT Conversations
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: OpenAI asked a federal judge in New York on Wednesday to reverse an order that required it to turn over 20 million anonymized ChatGPT chat logs amid a copyright infringement lawsuit by the New York Times and other news outlets, saying it would expose users’ private conversations. The artificial … ⌘ Read more
How to Capture the Northern Lights With Just Your Smartphone
Modern cellphone cameras make it easy to capture the famously fickle Aurora Borealis. ⌘ Read more
OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 Brings Smarter Reasoning and More Personality Presets To ChatGPT
OpenAI today released GPT-5.1, an update to its flagship model line. The update includes two versions: GPT-5.1 Instant, which OpenAI says adds adaptive reasoning capabilities and improved instruction following, and GPT-5.1 Thinking, which adjusts its processing time based on query complexity.
The Thinking model respond … ⌘ Read more
South Asia on Edge
There are no known links between two bomb attacks in India and Pakistan, but they come as tensions between the countries are already high. ⌘ Read more
Israel Reopens Gaza Aid Route It Had Closed for Months
The cease-fire with Hamas has blunted the hunger faced by Gazans during the war. But aid agencies say Israeli restrictions are still hobbling their work. ⌘ Read more
Algeria Pardons Writer Boualem Sansal at Germany’s Request
Boualem Sansal, an Algerian-French writer, was arrested on accusations of undermining national security during a visit to his homeland a year ago and sentenced to five years in prison. ⌘ Read more
Deadly Blasts in India and Pakistan Set Region on Edge
The rare explosions in the country’s capitals have not been directly linked, but there are fears the governments will blame each other after their previous military conflict alarmed the world. ⌘ Read more
Valve Enters the Console Wars
Valve has unveiled a new Steam Machine console, taking a second shot at living room gaming a decade after its 2015 Steam Machine initiative failed. The 6-inch cube runs Linux-based SteamOS but plays Windows games through Proton, a compatibility layer built on Wine that translates Microsoft graphical APIs.
Valve spent over a decade working on SteamOS and ways to run Windows games on Linux after the original Steam … ⌘ Read more
Gustavo Petro, the Rebel Turned President Willing to Take on Trump
From his guerrilla roots, Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, has long embraced a confrontational style. Now, he has incurred President Trump’s wrath and is facing political fallout at home. ⌘ Read more
Gustavo Petro, the Rebel Turned President Willing to Take on Trump
From his guerrilla roots, Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, has long embraced a confrontational style. Now, he has incurred President Trump’s wrath and is facing political fallout at home. ⌘ Read more
Blue Diamond Sells for $25.6 Million at Auction in Switzerland
A 9.51-carat blue stone that once belonged to the heiress Bunny Mellon sold for $7 million less than at its last auction, a sign of profound shifts in the diamond industry. ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Is Offering Rewards Points for Using Edge Instead of Google Chrome
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft employs various schemes to stop Edge users from switching to Chrome, and the latest includes financial rewards for sticking with the browser. As spotted by Windows Latest, select users who search on Bing within Microsoft Edge for a link to download Google Chrome are now shown an … ⌘ Read more
US Ends Penny-Making Run After More Than 230 Years
The US is set to make its final penny. The Philadelphia Mint will strike its last batch of one-cent coins on Thursday, after more than 230 years of production. From a report: The coins will remain in circulation but the phase-out has already prompted businesses to start adjusting prices, as they say pennies are becoming harder to find. The government says the move will save … ⌘ Read more
Fossil fuel CO₂ emissions hit record high in 2025
Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to rise by 1.1% in 2025—reaching a record high, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project. ⌘ Read more
UC San Diego Reports ‘Steep Decline’ in Student Academic Preparation
The University of California, San Diego has documented a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering freshmen over the past five years, according to a report [PDF] released this month by the campus’s Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below … ⌘ Read more
Apple Study Finds Mandated Fee Reductions Never Reached European Consumers
Apple said Wednesday that European Union developers pocketed the savings from mandated commission reductions rather than lowering prices for consumers. The iPhone maker commissioned Analysis Group to study pricing behavior [PDF] after the Digital Markets Act forced Apple to cut its App Store fees from up to 30% to an average … ⌘ Read more