RADV Vulkan Driver Now Implements HPLOC For Even Faster Ray-Tracing Performance
There have been a number of nice RADV driver Vulkan ray-tracing performance optimizations for Mesa in recent times… Here is yet another merge request now merged for Mesa 26.0 and helping deliver some nice performance uplift for ray-traced games on Linux. And, yes, this is yet another Valve contribution to this open-source AMD Radeon Linux graphics driver… ⌘ Read more

More US States are Putting Bitcoin on Public Balance Sheets
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC:

Led by Texas and New Hampshire, U.S. states across the national map, both red and blue in political stripes, are developing bitcoin strategic reserves and bringing cryptocurrencies onto their books through additional state finance and budgeting measures. Texas recently became the first state to purchase bitc … ⌘ Read more

Is the Possibility of Conscious AI a Dangerous Myth?
This week Noema magazine published a 7,000-word exploration of our modern “Mythology Of Conscious AI” written by a neuroscience professor who directs the University of Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science:
The very idea of conscious AI rests on the assumption that consciousness is a matter of computation. More specifically, that implementing the right kind of computation, … ⌘ Read more

EHT Astronomers Will Film Swirling of a Supermassive Black Hole for the First Time
“Astronomers are preparing to capture a movie of a supermassive black hole in action for the first time,” reports the Guardian:

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) will track the colossal black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy throughout March and April with the aim of capturing footage of the swirli … ⌘ Read more

Porsche Sold More Electrified Cars in Europe Last Year than Pure Gas-Powered Models
Porsche made an announcement Friday. In Europe they sold more electrified Porsches last year than pure combustion-engined models, reports Electrek:

in Europe, a majority (57.9%) of Porsche’s deliveries were plug-ins, with 1/3 of its European sales being fully electric. For models that have no fully electric … ⌘ Read more

Young College Graduates Suddenly Aren’t Finding Jobs Faster Than Non-College Graduates
U.S. college graduates “have historically found jobs more quickly than people with only a high school degree,” writes Bloomberg.

“But that advantage is becoming a thing of the past, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.”

“Recently, the job-finding rate for young college-edu … ⌘ Read more

SpaceX Launches New NASA Telescope to Help JWST Study Exoplanets
Last week a University of Arizona astronomy professor “watched anxiously…as an awe-inspiring SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried NASA’s new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit.”

In 2018 NASA had approached Daniel Apai to help build the telescope, which he says will “shatter a barrier — to understand and remove a source of noise in the data … ⌘ Read more

Hundreds Answer Europe’s ‘Public Call for Evidence’ on an Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy
The European Commission “has opened a public call for evidence on European open digital ecosystems,” writes Help Net Security, part of preparations for an upcoming Communication “that will examine the role of open source in EU’s digital infrastructure.”

The consultation runs from January 6 to Februa … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Forced to Issue Emergency Out-of-Band Windows Update
The senior editor at the blog Windows Central decries two serious Windows issues “that were not spotted by Microsoft during testing, and are so severe that the company has now issued an emergency fix to address the problems.”

Microsoft’s first update for Windows 11 in 2026 has already caused two major issues that saw users unable to fully shutdown t … ⌘ Read more

Astronomers Finally Explain How Molecules From Earth’s Atmosphere Keep Winding Up On the Moon
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:

Particles from Earth’s atmosphere have been carried into space by solar wind and have been landing on the moon for billions of years, mixing into the lunar soil, according to a new study [published in the journal Nature Communications Ea … ⌘ Read more

Acer Sues Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, Alleging Infringment on Acer’s Cellular Networking Patents
Slashdot reader BrianFagioli writes: Acer has filed three separate patent infringement lawsuits against AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, taking the unusual step of hauling the nation’s largest wireless carriers into federal court. The suits, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, claim t … ⌘ Read more

China Builds ‘Hypergravity’ Machine 2,000X Stronger Than Earth
Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared this report from Futurism:

China has unveiled an extremely powerful “hypergravity machine” that can generate forces almost two thousand times stronger than Earth’s regular gravity.

The futuristic-looking machine, called CHIEF1900, was constructed at China’s Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Exper … ⌘ Read more

Could We Provide Better Cellphone Service With Fewer, Bigger Satellites?
European satellite operator Eutelsat “plans to launch 440 Airbus-built LEO satellites in the coming years to replenish and expand its constellation,” Reuters reported Friday. And last week America’s Federal Communications Commission approved SpaceX’s request to deploy another 7,500 Starlink satellites, while Starlink “projects it … ⌘ Read more

Retailers Rush to Implement AI-Assisted Shopping and Orders
This week Google “unveiled a set of tools for retailers that helps them roll out AI agents,” reports the Wall Street Journal,
The new retail AI agents, which help shoppers find their desired items, provide customer support and let people order food at restaurants, are part of what Alphabet-owned Google calls Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Major reta … ⌘ Read more

53% of Crypto Tokens Launched Since 2021 Have Failed, Most in 2025
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”More than half of all cryptocurrencies ever launched are now defunct,” reports CoinDesk, citing a new analysis by cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko.

And most of those failures occurred in 2025:

The study looked at token listings on GeckoTerminal between mid-2021 and the end of 2025. Of the nearly 20.2 million tokens that entered … ⌘ Read more

How Much Do AI Models Resemble a Brain?
At the AI safety site Foom, science journalist Mordechai Rorvig explores a paper presented at November’s Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing conference:

[R]esearchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Georgia Tech revisited earlier findings that showed that language models, the engines of commercial AI chatbots, sh … ⌘ Read more

2026’s Breakthrough Technologies? MIT Technology Review Chooses Sodium-ion Batteries, Commercial Space Stations
As 2026 begins, MIT Technology Review publishes “educated guesses” on emerging technologies that will define the future, advances “we think will drive progress or incite the most change — for better or worse — in the years ahead.”

This year’s list incl … ⌘ Read more

Predator Spyware Turns Failed Attacks Into Intelligence For Future Exploits
In December 2024 the Google Threat Intelligence Group published research on the code of the commercial spyware “Predator”. But there’s now been new research by Jamf (the company behind a mobile device management solution) showing Predator is more dangerous and sophisticated than we realized, according to SecurityWeek.

Long-ti … ⌘ Read more

To Pressure Security Professionals, Mandiant Releases Database That Cracks Weak NTLM Passwords in 12 Hours
Ars Technica reports:

Security firm Mandiant [part of Google Cloud] has released a database that allows any administrative password protected by Microsoft’s NTLM.v1 hash algorithm to be hacked in an attempt to nudge users who continue using the deprecated function … ⌘ Read more

Two More Offshore Wind Projects in the US Allowed to Continue Construction
Friday a federal judge “cleared U.S. power company Dominion Energy to resume work on its Virginia offshore wind project.” But a U.S. federal judge also ruled Thursday that another major offshore wind farm is allowed to resume construction, reports the Hill. “The project, which would supply power to New York, was one of five th … ⌘ Read more

Dozens of US Colleges Close as Falling Birth Rate Pushes Them Off Enrollment Cliff
A new article from Bloomberg says dozens of America’s colleges “succumbed to a fundamental problem killing colleges across the US: not enough students. The schools will award their final degrees this spring, stranding students not yet ready to graduate and forcing faculty and staff to hunt for new jobs.”

The co … ⌘ Read more

NASA Livestreams the Rocket That Will Carry Four Astronauts Around the Moon
“A mega rocket set to take astronauts around the Moon for the first time in decades is being taken to its launch pad,” the BBC reported this morning.

NASA is livestreaming their move of the 11-million-pound “stack” — which includes the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft secured to it, al … ⌘ Read more

What Happened After Security Researchers Found 60 Flock Cameras Livestreaming to the Internet
A couple months ago, YouTuber Benn Jordan “found vulnerabilities in some of Flock’s license plate reader cameras,” reports 404 Media’s Jason Koebler. “He reached out to me to tell me he had learned that some of Flock’s Condor cameras were left live-streaming to the open internet.”

This led … ⌘ Read more

T2/Linux Brings a Flagship KDE Plasma Linux Desktop to RISC-V and ARM64
After “a decade of deep focus on embedded and server systems,” T2 SDE Linux “is back to the Desktop,” according to its web site, calling the new “T2 Desktop” flavour “ready for everyday home and office use!”

Built on the latest KDE Plasma, systemd, and Wayland, the new T2 Desktop flavour delivers a modern, clean, and performant exp … ⌘ Read more

As US Officials Showed Off a Self-Driving Robo-Bus - It Got Hit By a Tesla Driver
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:

The U.S. Department of Transportation brought an automated bus to D.C. this week to showcase its work on self-driving vehicles, taking officials from around the country on a ride between agency headquarters at Navy Yard and Union Station. One of th … ⌘ Read more

Nearly 5 Million Accounts Removed Under Australia’s New Social Media Ban
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Nearly five million social media accounts belonging to Australian teenagers have been deactivated or removed, a month after a landmark law barring those younger than 16 from using the services took effect, the government said on Thursday. The announcement was the first re … ⌘ Read more

Shotcut 26.1 Beta Video Editor Adds New Hardware Decoder Options
The Shotcut 26.1 beta was released overnight as the newest version of this Qt6-based, cross-platform video editing solution. Standing out the most with this new development release are some new GPU-accelerated hardware decode options for aiming to help speed-up this free software video editor… ⌘ Read more

Supreme Court May Block Thousands of Lawsuits Over Monsanto’s Weed Killer
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Monsanto’s argument that federal pesticide law should shield it and parent company Bayer from tens of thousands of state lawsuits over Roundup since the Environmental Protection Agency has not required a cancer warning label. The case could determine whether federal rules preempt state failure-to-w … ⌘ Read more

Biggest Offshore Wind Project In US To Resume Construction
A federal judge has temporarily lifted the Trump administration’s suspension of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, allowing construction on the largest offshore wind project in the U.S. to resume. CNBC reports: Judge Jamar Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Dominion’s request for a preliminary injunction Frida … ⌘ Read more

Pesticides May Drastically Shorten Fish Lifespans, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Even low levels of common agricultural pesticides can stunt the long-term lifespan of fish, according to research led by Jason Rohr, a biologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Signs of aging accelerated when fish were exposed to the chemicals, according to the study, published in Sc … ⌘ Read more

Judge Orders Anna’s Archive To Delete Scraped Data
Anna’s Archive has been hit with a U.S. federal court default judgment and permanent injunction over its scraping and distribution of OCLC’s WorldCat data, which occurred more than two years ago. According to the ruling, the shadow library must delete all copies of its WorldCat data and stop scraping, using, storing, or distributing the data. “It is expected that OCLC will us … ⌘ Read more

Patch Tuesday Update Makes Windows PCs Refuse To Shut Down
A recent Microsoft Patch Tuesday update has introduced a bug in Windows 11 23H2 that causes some PCs to refuse to shut down or hibernate, “no matter how many times you try,” reports The Register. From the report: In a notice on its Windows release health dashboard, Microsoft confirmed that some PCs running Windows 11 23H2 might fail to power down properly af … ⌘ Read more

Trump Wants Tech Companies To Foot the Bill For New Power Plants
The Trump administration urged the largest electricity grid in the U.S. to make big tech companies pay for new power plants to support the surging electricity demand from AI and data centers. CNBC reports: Electricity prices have exploded in recent years on PJM Interconnection due in part to the data centers that tech companies are building t … ⌘ Read more

Supreme Court Hacker Posted Stolen Government Data On Instagram
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Last week, Nicholas Moore, 24, a resident of Springfield, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court’s electronic document filing system. At the time, there were no details about the specifics of the hacking crimes Moore was admitting to. On Friday, a newly filled … ⌘ Read more

Cloudflare Acquires Team Behind Open Source Framework Astro
Cloudflare has acquired the core team behind the open source JavaScript framework Astro, bringing its creators in-house while pledging to keep Astro fully open source. The New Stack reports: Astro is used by major brands like IKEA, Unilever, Visa and OpenAI to build fast, content-driven websites. Search engines prioritize fast-loading and clean pages, the … ⌘ Read more

Canada Reverses Tariff On Chinese EVs
Longtime Slashdot reader hackingbear shares a report from the Washington Times: Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff [back to 6.1%] on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. He said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 ve … ⌘ Read more

TSMC Says AI Demand Is ‘Endless’ After Record Q4 Earnings
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported record fourth-quarter earnings and said it expects AI chip demand to continue for years. During an earnings call, CEO C.C. Wei told investors that while he cannot predict the semiconductor industry’s long-term trajectory, he remains bullish on … ⌘ Read more

Britain Has ‘Moved Away’ From Aligning With EU Regulation, Financial District’s Ambassador Says
An anonymous reader shares a report: The prospect of Britain realigning its financial rules with the European Union has passed, and the country should avoid linking its regulations to any single jurisdiction, the ambassador for London’s financial services sector told Reuters. Nearly a deca … ⌘ Read more

Microplastics From Washing Clothes Could Be Hurting Your Tomatoes
A new study from Cornell and University of Toronto researchers has found that polyester microfibers shed from synthetic clothing during laundry can interfere with cherry tomato plant development [non-paywalled source] when these particles accumulate in agricultural soil. Plants grown in contaminated soil were 11% less likely to emerge, gre … ⌘ Read more

PhD Students’ Taste For Risk Mirrors Their Supervisors’
A researchers’ propensity for risky projects is passed down to their doctoral students – and stays with trainees after they leave the laboratory, according to an analysis of thousands of current and former PhD students and their mentors. From a report: Science involves taking risks, and some of the most impactful discoveries require taking big bets. However, scient … ⌘ Read more

Partly AI-Generated Folk-Pop Hit Barred From Sweden’s Official Charts
An anonymous reader shares a report: A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation. I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Ar Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.

However, th … ⌘ Read more

Ads Are Coming To ChatGPT in the Coming Weeks
OpenAI said Friday that it will begin testing ads on ChatGPT in the coming weeks, as the $500 billion startup seeks new revenue streams to fund its continued expansion and compete against rivals Google and Anthropic. The company had previously resisted embedding ads into its chatbot, citing concerns that doing so could undermine the trustworthiness and objectivity of responses.

The ads w … ⌘ Read more

Seattle is Building Light Rail Like It’s 1999
Seattle was late to the light rail party – the city rejected transit ballot measures in 1968 and 1971, missing out on federal funding that built Atlanta’s MARTA, and didn’t approve a plan including rail until 1996 – but the Pacific Northwest city is now in the middle of a multibillion-dollar building boom that has produced the highest post-pandemic ridership recovery of any US light … ⌘ Read more

Verizon Offers $20 Credit After Nationwide Outage Stranded Users in SOS Mode For Hours
Verizon is offering affected customers a $20 account credit following a nationwide network outage on Wednesday that left users across the US unable to connect, forcing phones into SOS mode for roughly ten hours before the carrier restored service around 10:15PM ET.

Customers will receive a text message w … ⌘ Read more

AI Has Made Salesforce Engineers More Productive, So the Company Has Stopped Hiring Them, CEO Says
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said this week that his company’s software engineering headcount has remained “mostly flat” over the past year as internal AI tools have delivered substantial productivity gains.

Speaking on TBPN, Benioff said he has about 15,000 engineers who are “more p … ⌘ Read more

Ruby on Rails Creator Says AI Coding Tools Still Can’t Match Most Junior Programmers
AI still can’t produce code as well as most junior programmers he’s worked with, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of 37 Signals, said on a recent podcast [video link], which is why he continues to write most of his code by hand. Hansson compared AI’s current coding … ⌘ Read more

China Clamps Down on High-Speed Traders, Removing Servers
An anonymous reader shares a report: China is pulling the plug on a key advantage held by high-frequency traders, removing servers dedicated to those firms out of local exchanges’ data centers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Commodities futures exchanges in Shanghai and Guangzhou are among those that have ordered local brokers to shift servers f … ⌘ Read more

Hard Drive Prices Have Surged By an Average of 46% Since September
Tom’s Hardware: Extensive research into the pricing of some of the best hard drives on the market for large capacity, economical storage indicates that prices are beginning to increase sharply, with some of the most popular models on the market seeing increases upwards of 60%. According to research from ComputerBase, pricing analysis on 12 … ⌘ Read more

Code.org: Use AI In an Interview Without Our OK and You’re Dead To Us
theodp writes: Code.org, the nonprofit backed by AI giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon and whose Hour of AI and free AI curriculum aim to make world’s K-12 schoolchildren AI literate, points job seekers to its AI Use Policy in Hiring, which promises dire consequences for those who use AI during interviews or take home assignments without … ⌘ Read more

Ubuntu 26.04 Aims To Deliver Better NVIDIA Wayland Performance Atop GNOME
If all goes well the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release will further enhance the NVIDIA graphics performance under its default GNOME Wayland session. The improvements might be upstreamed to GNOME 50 in time but otherwise it’s looking like Ubuntu 26.04 will carry its own patch(es) for improving the NVIDIA Wayland performance… ⌘ Read more