Apple Blocks US Users From Downloading ByteDance’s Chinese Apps
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: While TikTok operates in the United States under new ownership, Apple has deployed technical restrictions to block iOS users in the United States from downloading other apps made by the video platform’s Chinese parent organization ByteDance. ByteDance owns a vast array of different apps spanning socia … ⌘ Read more
Iran War Provides a Large-Scale Test For AI-Assisted Warfare
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg, written by Katrina Manson: The U.S. strikes on Iran ordered by President Donald Trump mark the arrival on a large scale of a new era of warfare assisted by artificial intelligence. Captain Timothy Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson, told me last night that the AI tools the U.S. military is using in … ⌘ Read more
AI Startup Sues Ex-CEO Saying He Took 41GB of Email, Lied On Resume
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Hayden AI, a San Francisco startup that makes spatial analytics tools for cities worldwide, has sued its co-founder and former CEO, alleging that he stole a large quantity of proprietary information in the days leading up to his ouster from the company in September 2024. In a lawsuit file … ⌘ Read more
AI Translations Are Adding ‘Hallucinations’ To Wikipedia Articles
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Wikipedia editors have implemented new policies and restricted a number of contributors who were paid to use AI to translate existing Wikipedia articles into other languages after they discovered these AI translations added AI “hallucinations,” or errors, to the resulting article. The new restric … ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Confirms ‘Project Helix,’ a Next-Gen Xbox That Can Run PC Games
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 80 Level: Microsoft has officially confirmed development of its next-generation Xbox console, currently known internally as Project Helix. While concrete details remain limited, early information suggests the company is positioning the device as a hybrid between a traditional console and … ⌘ Read more
AMD Will Bring Its ‘Ryzen AI’ Processors To Standard Desktop PCs For First Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AMD has been selling “Ryzen AI”-branded laptop processors for around a year and a half at this point. In addition to including modern CPU and GPU architectures, these are attempting to capitalize on the generative AI craze by offering chips with neural processi … ⌘ Read more
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Calls OpenAI’s Messaging Around Military Deal ‘Straight Up Lies’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is not happy – perhaps predictably so – with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. In a memo to staff, reported by The Information, Amodei referred to OpenAI’s dealings with the Department of Defense as “safety th … ⌘ Read more
Jensen Huang Says Nvidia Is Pulling Back From OpenAI and Anthropic
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference in downtown San Francisco Wednesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company’s recent investments in OpenAI and Anthropic are likely to be its last in both, saying that once they go public as anticipated later this year, the opportu … ⌘ Read more
A Nuclear Reactor Backed By Bill Gates Gets Federal Approval To Start Building
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: A novel type of nuclear power plant in Wyoming backed by Bill Gates received a key federal permit on Wednesday, making it the first new U.S. commercial reactor in nearly a decade to receive clearance to begin construction. The Nuclear Regulatory Commissio … ⌘ Read more
TikTok Says End-To-End Encryption Makes Users Less Safe
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: TikTok will not introduce end-to-end encryption (E2EE) – the controversial privacy feature used by nearly all its rivals – arguing it makes users less safe. E2EE means only the sender and recipient of a direct message can view its contents, making it the most secure form of communication available to the general … ⌘ Read more
ChatGPT Gets GPT-5.3 Instant Update With Less ‘Cringe,’ Fewer Hallucinations
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: OpenAI today updated its most popular ChatGPT model, debuting GPT-5.3 Instant. GPT-5.3 Instant is supposed to provide more accurate answers and better contextualized results when searching the web. The update also cuts down on unnecessary dead ends, caveats, and overly declarative … ⌘ Read more
Meta’s AI Display Glasses Reportedly Share Intimate Videos With Human Moderators
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Users of Meta’s AI smart glasses in Europe may be unknowingly sharing intimate video and sensitive financial information with moderators outside of the bloc, according to a report from Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet released last week. Employees in Kenya doing AI “annota … ⌘ Read more
India’s Top Court Angry After Junior Judge Cites Fake AI-Generated Orders
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: India’s Supreme Court has threatened legal consequences after a judge was found to have adjudicated on a property dispute using fake judgements generated by artificial intelligence. The top court, which was responding to an appeal by the defendants, will now examine the ruling given … ⌘ Read more
British Columbia To End Time Changes, Adopt Year-Round Daylight Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC.ca: The B.C. government says this Sunday will be the last time British Columbians have to change their clocks. The province will be permanently adopting daylight time and the March 8 “spring forward” will be the last time change, Premier David Eby announced Monday. “We are done waiting. British C … ⌘ Read more
Charter Gets FCC Permission To Buy Cox, Become Largest ISP In the US
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Charter Communications, operator of the Spectrum cable brand, has obtained Federal Communications Commission permission to buy Cox and surpass Comcast as the country’s largest home Internet service provider. Charter has 29.7 million residential and business Internet customers compared t … ⌘ Read more
Editor At 184-Year-Old Ohio Newspaper Pushes To Let AI Draft News Articles
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper, has begun to feature a new byline. On recent articles about an ice carving festival, a medical research discovery and a roaming pack of chicken-slaying dogs, a reporter’s name is paired with the words “Advance Local E … ⌘ Read more
What’s Driving the SaaSpocalypse
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: One day not long ago, a founder texted his investor with an update: he was replacing his entire customer service team with Claude Code, an AI tool that can write and deploy software on its own. To Lex Zhao, an investor at One Way Ventures, the message indicated something bigger – the moment when companies like Salesforce stopped being the automatic default. … ⌘ Read more
Google Quantum-Proofs HTTPS
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google on Friday unveiled its plan for its Chrome browser to secure HTTPS certificates against quantum computer attacks without breaking the Internet. The objective is a tall order. The quantum-resistant cryptographic data needed to transparently publish TLS certificates is roughly 40 times bigger than the classical cryptographic material used today. Today’s X.509 c … ⌘ Read more
OpenAI Fires an Employee For Prediction Market Insider Trading
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: OpenAI has fired an employee following an investigation into their activity on prediction market platforms including Polymarket, WIRED has learned. OpenAI CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, disclosed the termination in an internal message to employees earlier this year. The employee, she said, “used confidenti … ⌘ Read more
US Military Accidentally Shoots Down Border Protection Drone With Laser
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a “seemingly threatening” drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers said. The case of mistaken identity prompted the Federal Aviation Admini … ⌘ Read more
Memory Price Hikes Will Kill Off Budget PCs and Smartphones, Analyst Warns
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Ballooning memory prices are forecast to kill off entry-level PCs, leading to a decline in global shipments this year – and a similar effect is going to hit smartphones. Analyst biz Gartner is projecting a drop in PC shipments of more than 10 percent during 2026, and a … ⌘ Read more
Moon’s Ancient Magnetic Field May Have Flickered On and Off
sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: For decades, planetary scientists have pored over a mystery hidden within the Moon rocks retrieved by Apollo astronauts in the 1960s and ‘70s. Minerals in the rocks record the imprint of a magnetic field, nearly as powerful as Earth’s, that existed more than 3.5 billion years ago and seemed to persist f … ⌘ Read more
Anthropic CEO Says AI Company ‘Cannot In Good Conscience Accede’ To Pentagon
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology. The maker of the AI chatbot Claude said in a statement that it’s not walking away from … ⌘ Read more
What’s the Point of School When AI Can Do Your Homework?
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: There’s a new agentic AI called Einstein that will, according to its developers, live the life of a student for them. Einstein’s website claims that the AI will attend lectures for you, write your papers, and even log into EdTech platforms like Canvas to take tests and participate in discussions. Educators told m … ⌘ Read more
US Farmers Are Rejecting Multimillion-Dollar Datacenter Bids For Their Land
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: When two men knocked on Ida Huddleston’s door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries. According to Huddleston, the men’s client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company,” sought her 650 acres … ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Says Bug In Classic Outlook Hides the Mouse Pointer
joshuark quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Microsoft is investigating a known issue that causes the mouse pointer to disappear in the classic Outlook desktop email client for some users. This bug has been acknowledged almost two months after the first reports started surfacing online, with users saying that Outlook became unusable after the mouse po … ⌘ Read more
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Explores Stablecoin For Gaza
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Officials working with Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” are exploring setting up a stablecoin for Gaza as part of efforts to reshape the devastated Palestinian enclave’s economy, according to five people familiar with the discussions. The talks around introducing a stablecoin – a type of cryptocurrency whose v … ⌘ Read more
ASML Unveils EUV Light Source Advance That Could Yield 50% More Chips By 2030
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Researchers at ASML Holding say they have found a way to boost the power of the light source in a key chip making machine to turn out up to 50% more chips by decade’s end, to help retain the Dutch company’s edge over emerging U.S. and Chinese rivals. ASML is the world’ … ⌘ Read more
Hazardous Substances Found In All Headphones Tested By ToxFREE Project
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: You wear them at work, you wear them at play, you wear them to relax. You may even get sweaty in them at the gym. But an investigation into headphones has found every single pair tested contained substances hazardous to human health, including chemicals that can cause cancer, n … ⌘ Read more
NASA Eyes March 6 To Launch 4 Astronauts To the Moon On Artemis II Mission
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: NASA could launch four astronauts on a mission to fly around the moon as soon as March 6th. That’s the launch date (PDF) that the space agency is now working towards following a successful test fueling of its big, 322-foot-tall moon rocket, which is standing on a launch pad at th … ⌘ Read more
Cyber Stocks Slide As Anthropic Unveils ‘Claude Code Security’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Shares of cybersecurity software companies tumbled Friday after Anthropic PBC introduced a new security feature into its Claude AI model. Crowdstrike Holdings was the among the biggest decliners, falling as much as 6.5%, while Cloudflare slumped more than 6%. Meanwhile, Zscaler dropped 3.5%, SailPoint s … ⌘ Read more
Wikipedia Blacklists Archive.today, Starts Removing 695,000 Archive Links
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a blog. In the course of discussing whether Archive.today should be deprecated because of the DD … ⌘ Read more
How Private Equity Debt Left a Leading VPN Open To Chinese Hackers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: In early 2024, the agency that oversees cybersecurity for much of the US government issued a rare emergency order – disconnect your Connect Secure virtual private network software immediately. Chinese spies had hacked the code and infiltrated nearly two dozen organizations. The directive appli … ⌘ Read more
Newborn Chicks Connect Sounds With Shapes Just Like Humans, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Why does “bouba” sound round and “kiki” sound spiky? This intuition that ties certain sounds to shapes is oddly reliable all over the world, and for at least a century, scientists have considered it a clue to the origin of language, theorizing that maybe our ancestors b … ⌘ Read more
OpenClaw Security Fears Lead Meta, Other AI Firms To Restrict Its Use
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Last month, Jason Grad issued a late-night warning to the 20 employees at his tech startup. “You’ve likely seen Clawdbot trending on X/LinkedIn. While cool, it is currently unvetted and high-risk for our environment,” he wrote in a Slack message with a red siren emoji. “Please keep Clawdbot of … ⌘ Read more
Mark Zuckerberg Grilled On Usage Goals and Underage Users At California Trial
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced a barrage of questions about his social-media company’s efforts to secure ever more of its users’ time and attention at a landmark trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday. In sworn testimony, Zuckerberg said Meta’s grow … ⌘ Read more
EV Sales Boom As Ethiopia Bans Fossil-Fuel Car Imports
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Post: In 2024, the Ethiopian government banned the import of fossil fuel-powered vehicles and slashed tariffs on their electric equivalents. It was a policy driven less by the country’s climate ambitions and more by fiscal pressures. For years, subsidizing gasoline for consumers has been a major drag on Ethiopia … ⌘ Read more
Claims That AI Can Help Fix Climate Dismissed As Greenwashing
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report. Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbot … ⌘ Read more
EPA Faces First Lawsuit Over Its Killing of Major Climate Rule
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The first shot has been fired in the legal war over the Environmental Protection Agency’s rollback of its “endangerment finding,” which had been the foundation for federal climate regulations. Environmental and health groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals f … ⌘ Read more
Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Meta is preparing to spend $65 million this year to boost state politicians who are friendly to the artificial intelligence industry, beginning this week in Texas and Illinois, according to company representatives. The sum is the biggest election investment by Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagra … ⌘ Read more
GameHub Will Give Mac Owners Another Imperfect Way To Play Windows Games
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For a while now, Mac owners have been able to use tools like CrossOver and Game Porting Toolkit to get many Windows games running on their operating system of choice. Now, GameSir plans to add its own potential solution to the mix, announcing that a version of its existing Wi … ⌘ Read more
Thousands of CEOs Just Admitted AI Had No Impact On Employment Or Productivity
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected t … ⌘ Read more
Bayer Agrees To $7.25 Billion Proposed Settlement Over Thousands of Roundup Cancer Lawsuits
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup coul … ⌘ Read more
NPR’s Radio Host David Greene Says Google’s NotebookLM Tool Stole His Voice
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: David Greene had never heard of NotebookLM, Google’s buzzy artificial intelligence tool that spins up podcasts on demand, until a former colleague emailed him to ask if he’d lent it his voice. “So… I’m probably the 148th person to ask this, but did you license your … ⌘ Read more
Most VMware Users Still ‘Actively Reducing Their VMware Footprint,’ Survey Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: More than two years after Broadcom took over VMware, the virtualization company’s customers are still grappling with higher prices, uncertainty, and the challenges of reducing vendor lock-in. Today, CloudBolt Software released a report, “The Mass Exodus That Never … ⌘ Read more
Ars Technica’s AI Reporter Apologizes For Mistakenly Publishing Fake AI-Generated Quotes
Sunday Ars Technica apologized for making Scott Shambaugh’s week a little weirder. Last week Shambaugh learned an AI agent published a “hit piece” about him after he’d rejected the AI agent’s pull request. (And that incident was covered by Ars Technica.)
But then Shambaugh realized their article att … ⌘ Read more
Microdosing For Depression Appears To Work About As Well As Drinking Coffee
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: About a decade ago, many media outlets – including WIRED – zeroed in on a weird trend at the intersection of mental health, drug science, and Silicon Valley biohacking: microdosing, or the practice of taking a small amount of a psychedelic drug seeking not full-blown hallu … ⌘ Read more
UK’s First Rapid-Charging Battery Train Ready For Boarding
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The UK’s first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend – operating a five-mile return route in west London. Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the … ⌘ Read more
White House Scraps ‘Burdensome’ Software Security Rules
An anonymous reader quotes a report from SecurityWeek: The White House has announced that software security guidance issued during the Biden administration has been rescinded due to “unproven and burdensome” requirements that prioritized administrative compliance over meaningful security investments. The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued Memorandum … ⌘ Read more
Videogame Stocks Slide On Google’s AI Model That Turns Prompts Into Playable Worlds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Shares of videogame companies fell sharply in afternoon trading on Friday after Alphabet’s Google rolled out its artificial intelligence model capable of creating interactive digital worlds with simple prompts. Shares of “Grand Theft Auto” maker Take-Two Intera … ⌘ Read more