На проходящей в эти дни конференции Maintainers Summit состоялось обсуждение результатов эксперимента по добавлению в ядро Linux возможности разработки компонентов на языке Rust. Собравшиеся участники признали эксперимент успешным и решили перевести поддержку языка Rust в категорию основных частей ядра, сняв с неё метку экспериментальной функциональности.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=64401

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The unsustainable production of food and fossil fuels causes $5 billion of environmental damage per hour, according to a major UN report. Ending this harm was a key part of the global transformation of governance, economics and finance required "before collapse becomes inevitable," the experts said. The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report, which is produced by 200 researchers for the UN Environment Program, said the climate crisis, destruction of nature and pollution could no longer be seen as simply environmental crises. "They are all undermining our economy, food security, water security, human health and they are also [national] security issues, leading to conflict in many parts of the world," said Prof Robert Watson, the co-chair of the assessment. [...]

The GEO report is comprehensive -- 1,100 pages this year -- and is usually accompanied by a summary for policymakers, which is agreed by all the world's countries. However, strong objections by countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Argentina to references to fossil fuels, plastics, reduced meat in diets and other issues meant no agreement was reached this time. [...] The GEO report emphasized that the costs of action were much less than the costs of inaction in the long term, and estimated the benefits from climate action alone would be worth $20 trillion a year by 2070 and $100 trillion by 2100. "We need visionary countries and private sector [companies] to recognize they will make more profit by addressing these issues rather than ignoring them," Watson said. [...]

One of the biggest issues was the $45 trillion a year in environmental damage caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, and the pollution and destruction of nature caused by industrial agriculture, the report said. The food system carried the largest costs, at $20 trillion, with transport at $13 trillion and fossil-fuel powered electricity at $12 trillion. These costs -- called externalities by economists -- must be priced into energy and food to reflect their real price and shift consumers towards greener choices, Watson said: "So we need social safety nets. We need to make sure that the poorest in society are not harmed by an increase in costs." The report suggests measures such as a universal basic income, taxes on meat and subsidies for healthy, plant-based foods.

There were also about $1.5 trillion in environmentally harmful subsidies to fossil fuels, food and mining, the report said. These needed to be removed or repurposed, it added. Watson noted that wind and solar energy was cheaper in many places but held back by vested interests in fossil fuel. The climate crisis may be even worse than thought, he said: "We are likely to be underestimating the magnitude of climate change," with global heating probably at the high end of the projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Removing fossil fuel subsidies could cut emissions by a third, the report said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2311256/food-and-fossil-fuel-production-causing-5-billion-of-environmental-damage-an-hour?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликовано: Wed, 10 Dec 2025 02:51:36 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / DIY или Сделай сам / Хабр

Научить нельзя - научиться можно. Привет, меня зовут Максим Иванков, уже 9-ый год я развиваю робототехнику и программирование для детей. В статье хотел поделиться опытом ведения занятий и описать формат обучения к которому пришёл сегодня, где дети самообучаются, а преподаватель не ведёт лекции. Подход отличается от привычного лекционного формата, поэтому как минимум заслуживает внимания) Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/articles/975096/

[ Доступен ]( https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/146.0/ ) Firefox 146.

( [ читать дальше... ]( https://www.linux.org.ru/news/mozilla/18164294#cut0 ) )

OpenAI, alongside Anthropic and Block, have launched the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, describing it as a neutral home for standards as agentic systems move into real production. It may sound well-meaning, but Slashdot reader and NERDS.xyz founder BrianFagioli isn't buying the narrative. In a report for NERDS.xyz, Fagioli writes: Instead of opening models, training data, or anything that would meaningfully shift power toward the community, the companies involved are donating lightweight artifacts like AGENTS.md, MCP, and goose. They're useful, but they're also the safest, least threatening pieces of their ecosystem to "open." From where I sit, it looks like a strategic attempt to lock in influence over emerging standards before truly open projects get a chance to define the space. I see the entire move as smoke and mirrors.

With regulators paying closer attention and developer trust slipping, creating a Linux Foundation directed fund gives these companies convenient cover to say they're being transparent and collaborative. But nothing about this structure forces them to share anything substantial, and nothing about it changes the closed nature of their core technology. To me, it looks like Big Tech trying to set the rules of the game early, using the language of openness without actually embracing it. Slashdot readers have seen this pattern before, and this one feels no different.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2255209/openai-joins-the-linux-foundations-new-agentic-ai-foundation?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Netflix's $72 billion bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery has triggered a consumer class action claiming the merger would crush competition, erase HBO Max as a rival, and hand Netflix control over major franchises. Reuters reports: The proposed class action (PDF) was filed on Monday by a subscriber to Warner Bros-owned HBO Max who said the proposed deal threatened to reduce competition in the U.S. subscription video-on-demand market. "Netflix has demonstrated repeated willingness to raise subscription prices even while facing competition from full-scale rivals such as WBD," the lawsuit said. [...] The lawsuit said the Warner Bros deal would eliminate one of Netflix's closest rivals, HBO Max, and give Netflix control over Warner Bros marquee franchises including Harry Potter, DC Comics and Game of Thrones. On Monday, Paramount Skydance launched a $108 billion hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery with an all-cash, $30-per-share offer.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2243222/netflix-faces-consumer-class-action-over-72-billion-warner-bros-deal?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader Randseed writes: With the likes of Google Nest, Ring, and others cooperating with law enforcement, I started to look for affordable wireless IP security cameras that I can put around my house. Unfortunately, it looks like almost every thing now incorporates some kind of cloud-based slop. All I really want is to put up some cameras, hook them up to my LAN, and install something like ZoneMinder. What are the most economical, wireless IP security cameras that I can set up with my server?

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2235240/ask-slashdot-what-are-the-best-locally-hosted-wireless-security-cameras?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: More and more people are turning to GoFundMe for help covering the cost of housing, food, and other basic needs. The for-profit crowdfunding platform's annual "Year in Help" report, released Tuesday, underscored ongoing concerns around affordability. The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company's 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. "Monthly bills" were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits.

The number of "essentials" fundraisers has increased over the last three years in all of the company's major English-speaking markets, according to GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. That includes the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, the self-published report comes at the end of a year that has seen weakened wage growth for lower-income workers, sluggish hiring, a rise in the unemployment rate and low consumer confidence in the economy. [...] Among campaigns aimed at addressing broader community needs, food banks were the most common recipient on GoFundMe this year. The platform experienced a nearly sixfold spike in food-related fundraisers between the end of October and first weeks of November, according to Cadogan, as many Americans' monthly SNAP benefits got suddenly cut off during the government shutdown.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2130256/more-people-crowdfunded-basic-needs-in-2025-gofundme-report-shows?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Congress quietly removed provisions that would have let the U.S. military fix its own equipment without relying on contractors, despite bipartisan and Pentagon support. The Register reports: The House and Senate versions of the NDAA passed earlier both included provisions that would have extended common right-to-repair rules to US military branches, requiring defense contractors to provide access to technical data, information, and components that enabled military customers to quickly repair essential equipment. Both of those provisions were stripped from the final joint-chamber reconciled version of the bill, published Monday, right-to-repair advocates at the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) pointed out in a press release. [...]

According to PIRG's press release on the matter, elected officials have been targeted by an "intensive lobbying push" in recent weeks against the provisions. House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and ranking Democrat Adam Smith (D-WA), responsible for much of the final version of the bill, have received significant contributions from defense contractors in recent years, and while correlation doesn't equal causation, it sure looks fishy. [Isaac Bowers, PIRG's federal legislative director] did tell us that he was glad that the defense sector's preferred solution to the military right to repair fight -- a "data as a service" solution -- was also excluded, so the 2026 NDAA isn't a total loss for the repairability fight. "That provision would have mandated the Pentagon access repair data through separate vendor contracts rather than receiving it upfront at the time of procurement, maintaining the defense industry's near monopoly over essential repair information and keeping troops waiting for repairs they could do quicker and cheaper themselves," Bowers said in an email.

An aide to the Democratic side of the Committee told The Register the House and Senate committees did negotiate a degree of right-to-repair permissions in the NDAA. According to the aide and a review of the final version of the bill, measures were included that require the Defense Department to identify any instances where a lack of technical data hinders operation or maintenance of weapon systems, as well as aviation systems. The bill also includes a provision that would establish a "technical data system" that would "track, manage, and enable the assessment" of data related to system maintenance and repair. Unfortunately, the technical data system portion of the NDAA mentions "authorized repair contractors" as the parties carrying out repair work, and there's also no mention of parts availability or other repairability provisions in the sections the staffer flagged -- just access to technical data. That means the provisions are unlikely to move the armed forces toward a new repairability paradigm.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2123219/congress-quietly-strips-right-to-repair-provisions-from-us-military-spending-bill?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Australia's world-first ban blocking under-16s from major social platforms has come into effect. The BBC is live reporting the reactions "both from within Australia and outside it." From the report: I've been speaking to 12-year-old Paloma, who lives in Sydney and says she is "sad" about the ban. She spends between 30 minutes and two hours a day on social media. "I'm upset... because I am part of several communities on Snapchat and TikTok," she tells me. "I've developed good friendships on the apps, with people in the US and New Zealand, who have common interests like gaming, and it makes me feel more connected to the world."

Paloma says she regularly talks about the ups and downs of her life with a boy of the same age in New Jersey, in the US, who she knows through gaming and TikTok. "I feel like I can explore my creativity when I am in a community online with people of similar ages," she says. Everyone Paloma knows is "a bit annoyed" about the ban. By stopping them from using social media, she says "the government is taking away a part of ourselves."

Two 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, backed by a rights group, are arguing at Australia's highest court that the legislation robs them of their right to free communication. The Digital Freedom Project (DFP) announced the case had been filed in the High Court late last month. After news of the case broke, Australia's Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament the government would not be swayed. "We will not be intimidated by threats. We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by big tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we will stand firm," she said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2112230/millions-of-australian-teens-lose-access-to-social-media-as-ban-takes-effect?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Shares of Apple were battered earlier this year as the iPhone maker faced repeated complaints about its lack of an artificial intelligence strategy. But as the AI trade faces increasing scrutiny, that hesitance has gone from a weakness to a strength -- and it's showing up in the stock market. Through the first six months of 2025, Apple was the second-worst performer among the Magnificent Seven tech giants, as its shares tumbled 18% through the end of June. That has reversed since then, with the stock soaring 35%, while AI darlings like Meta Platforms and Microsoft slid into the red and even Nvidia underperformed. The S&P 500 Index rose 10% in that time, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index gained 13%. [...] As a result, Apple now has a $4.1 trillion market capitalization and the second biggest weight in the S&P 500, leaping over Microsoft and closing in on Nvidia. The shift reflects the market's questioning of the hundreds of billions of dollars Big Tech firms are throwing at AI development, as well as Apple's positioning to eventually benefit when the technology is ready for mass use. "It is remarkable how they have kept their heads and are in control of spending, when all of their peers have gone the other direction," said John Barr, portfolio manager of the Needham Aggressive Growth Fund.

Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust Company, added: "While they most certainly will incorporate more AI into the phones over time, Apple has avoided the AI arms race and the massive capex that accompanies it." His company views Apple's stock as "a bit of an anti-AI holding."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2118205/apples-slow-ai-pace-becomes-a-strength-as-market-grows-weary-of-spending?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

This year is set to be the world's second or third-warmest on record, potentially surpassed only by 2024'S record-breaking heat, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Tuesday. From a report: The data is the latest from C3S following last month's COP30 climate summit, where governments failed to agree to substantial new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reflecting strained geopolitics as the U.S. rolls back its efforts, and some countries seek to weaken CO2-cutting measures.

This year will also likely round out the first three-year period in which the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, C3S said in a monthly bulletin. "These milestones are not abstract -- they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at C3S.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1959225/2025-will-be-worlds-second-or-third-hottest-year-on-record-eu-scientists-say?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft has announced that it will raise prices on its Microsoft 365 productivity suites for businesses and government clients starting in July 2026, marking the first commercial price increase since 2022. Small business and frontline worker plans face the steepest hikes: Business Basic jumps 16.7% to $7 per user per month, while frontline worker subscriptions surge up to 33%. Enterprise plans see more modest bumps, ranging from 5.3% for E5 to 8.3% for E3. Microsoft attributed the increases to more than 1,100 new features added to the suite, including AI-driven tools and security enhancements. Copilot remains a separate $30-per-month add-on.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1953225/microsoft-365-prices-rising-for-businesses-and-governments-in-july-2026?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Pinduoduo in China, Shopee in Southeast Asia, and Meesho in India operate in markets that could hardly be more different -- an upper-middle-income industrial state, a stitched-together archipelago of under-banked economies, and a country where three-quarters of retail is unorganized and e-commerce penetration sits at about 7% -- yet all three have landed on the same business model.

These platforms run asset-light marketplaces specializing in cheap goods and slow delivery, monetizing through logistics mark-ups, advertising, and installment credit rather than retail margins. Temu and Shein are further variations now expanding in the U.S. and Europe.

The economics are thin. Pinduoduo's EBITDA margins on GMV sit in a 0-4% band; Meesho's group-wide EBITDA hovers around break-even. Neither charges commissions on most sales; both earn through logistics mark-ups and advertising. Sponsored listings account for 1-3% of GMV at Indian marketplaces and 4-5% at Alibaba and Pinduoduo.

Credit is the more consequential side business. In India, cash on delivery functions as unofficial credit. Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey said the customers prefer CoD for its "built-in delay," which effectively makes it "a five-day loan." Geography, income, and regulation were supposed to produce different answers. They produced one: a 3% endgame where e-commerce clips a few points of GMV and relies on attention and credit for profits.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1941236/the-inevitable-shape-of-cheap-online-retail?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game has quietly transformed into something its creators never intended: a speculative asset class dominated by adults hunting for profit while children struggle to find a single pack on store shelves. The resale market has climbed so high that the latest set, Phantasmal Flames, had a rare Charizard illustration valued at more than $800 before anyone had even pulled one from a pack -- a pack that retails for about $5.3.

Ben Thyer, owner of BathTCG in Bath, has watched his shop become a flashpoint. His staff have received threats from customers, and he's heard reports of attacks and robberies at other stores. He stopped selling whole boxes of booster packs and now limits individual pack purchases. On Amazon, customers can only enter raffles for the chance to buy cards at all.The Pokemon Company printed 10.2 billion cards in the year ending March 2025 and still cannot meet demand. The company shared a seven-month-old statement saying it is printing "at maximum capacity." Thyer sees signs of a correction -- prices on singles and sealed products are falling -- but expects renewed frenzy around Pokemon's 30th anniversary in early 2026.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1928240/how-pokemon-cards-became-a-stock-market-for-millennials?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 19:12:53 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Программирование микроконтроллеров / Хабр

Меня зовут Максим Иванков, 9 лет назад я открыл первую школу робототехники и программирования в небольшом городе Краснодарского края. За 9 лет занятия робототехники для детей претерпели множество изменений о чём и хотел рассказать в статье. Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/articles/975054/

Microsoft announced on Tuesday its largest-ever investment in Asia -- $17.5 billion over four years starting in 2026 -- to expand cloud and AI infrastructure across India, fund skilling programs, and support ongoing operations in the country. The commitment adds to a $3 billion investment the company announced in January 2025 that is on track to be spent by the end of 2026. A new hyperscale cloud region in Hyderabad is set to go live in mid-2026 and will be Microsoft's largest in India, comprising three availability zones.

The company also plans to integrate AI into two government employment platforms -- e-Shram and the National Career Service -- that serve more than 310 million informal workers. Microsoft is doubling its India skilling target to 20 million people by 2030; since January, it has already trained 5.6 million.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1815211/microsoft-to-invest-175-billion-in-india?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 18:07:40 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Программирование микроконтроллеров / Хабр

Подготавливая статью [1] к публикации, обратил внимание на картинку, показанную на рис. 1. Я сохранил ее, чтобы воспользоваться в будущем. И оно не заставило себя ждать, т.к. захотелось повысить наглядность решения, введя в него графику и используя именно эту картинку.  К чему это привело, далее мы и поговорим.Все, что связано с картинкой, сделать не так уж сложно. Это довольно подробно описано в цикле статей по реализации графики в ВКПа (см. [2]). Для этого, во-первых, нужно создать графическое окно, установив данную картинку в качестве фона. Во-вторых, воспользоваться существующими заготовками контролов (элементов графического интерфейса), которые необходимо будет разместить на данном фоне. Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/articles/975032/

Michael Saylor's software company Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, built a financial model that some observers called an "infinite-money machine" by stockpiling hundreds of thousands of bitcoins and issuing stock and debt to buy more, but that machine appears to be breaking down. The company's stock peaked above $450 in mid-July and ended November at $177.18, a 60% decline. Bitcoin fell only 25% over the same period. The gap between Strategy's market cap and the value of its bitcoin holdings has nearly vanished.

At one point last week, the company's market value dipped below the value of its bitcoins after accounting for debt. Strategy announced it had built a $1.4 billion dollar reserve by selling more stock to cover required dividend payments to preferred shareholders over the next twelve months. The company also disclosed it might sell some of its coins if its value continues to fall, a reversal from Saylor's February tweet declaring "Never sell your Bitcoin." Professional short seller Jim Chanos, who had questioned the strategy's sustainability, told Sherwood he made money by shorting the stock and buying bitcoins.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/173219/what-happens-when-an-infinite-money-machine-unravels?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft's Xbox consoles were conspicuously absent from Black Friday's winners, failing to crack the top three in U.S. sales during one of the retail calendar's most important weeks. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, the PlayStation 5 captured 47% of Black Friday week console sales ending November 29, followed by the Nintendo Switch 2 at 24% and -- somewhat remarkably -- the NEX Playground, a Kinect-like Android device aimed at children, at 14%.

Microsoft ran no promotions on its consoles during the period. The Xbox Series X currently retails for $650 following this year's price increase, up from its $500 launch price in 2020. Sony, by contrast, discounted the PS5 by roughly 40% at some retailers. Piscatella noted on Bluesky that products without price promotions typically see no seasonal lift. Costco has removed Xbox consoles from its U.S. and UK websites.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1630206/xbox-is-bleeding-out?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Состоялся релиз web-браузера Firefox 146 и сформированы обновления прошлых веток с длительным сроком поддержки - 140.6.0 и 115.31.0. На стадию бета-тестирования переведена ветка Firefox 147, релиз которой намечен на 14 января.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=64400

In February, a six-month-old baby named KJ Muldoon became the first person ever to receive a CRISPR gene-editing treatment customized specifically for his unique genetic mutation, a milestone that researchers say marks a turning point in how medicine might approach the thousands of rare diseases that collectively affect 30 million Americans. Muldoon was born with a type of urea-cycle disorder that gives patients roughly a 50% chance of surviving infancy and typically requires a liver transplant; he is now a healthy 1-year-old who recently took his first steps.

The treatment's significance extends beyond one child. Scientists at UC Berkeley's Innovative Genomics Institute and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are now planning clinical trials that would use Muldoon's therapy as a template, tweaking the molecular "address" in the CRISPR system to target different mutations in other children with urea-cycle disorders. Last month, FDA officials Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad announced a new drug pathway designed to accelerate approvals for such personalized treatments -- a framework inspired in large part by Muldoon's case. Current gene-editing delivery mechanisms limit treatments to disorders in the blood and liver. Many families will still go without bespoke therapies.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1612202/the-rarest-of-all-diseases-are-becoming-treatable?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

A tenured USC professor is arguing that universities need to fundamentally rethink their value proposition as AI rapidly closes the gap on human instruction and a loneliness epidemic grips the generation most likely to be sitting in their lecture halls. Eric Anicich, an associate professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that nearly three-quarters of 16- to 24-year-olds now report feeling lonely, young adults spend 70% less time with friends in person compared to two decades ago, and a growing majority of Gen Z college graduates say their degree was a "waste of money."

Anicich points to a recent Harvard study finding that students using an AI tutor learned more than twice as much as those in traditional active-learning classes, and did so in less time. The implication is stark: if instruction becomes abundant and cheap, colleges must sell what remains scarce -- genuine human community. He notes that his doctoral training included zero coursework on teaching, a norm he says persists across academia. His proposal: fund student life as seriously as research labs, hire professional "experience designers," and treat rituals and collaborative projects as core curriculum rather than amenities.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1511224/colleges-oversold-education-now-they-must-sell-connection?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft Excel, the 40-year-old spreadsheet application that helped establish personal computers as essential workplace tools and contributed to Microsoft's current valuation of nearly $4 trillion, has weathered both the rise of cloud computing and the current AI boom largely unscathed. In its most recent quarter, commercial revenue for Microsoft 365 -- the bundle including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint -- increased 17% year over year, and consumer revenue rose 28%.

The software traces its origins to a 1983 Microsoft offsite under the code name Odyssey, where engineers set out to clone Lotus 1-2-3. That program had itself cloned VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet, created by Dan Bricklin for the Apple II in the late 1970s. Bricklin never patented VisiCalc. "Financially it would have been great if we'd have been able to patent it," he told Bloomberg. "And there would be a Bricklin Building at MIT, instead of a Gates Building."

Excel now counts an estimated 500 million paying users. The Pentagon pays for 2 million Microsoft 365 licenses. Google's free Sheets product, launched in 2006, captured casual use cases like potluck sign-ups but failed to dislodge Excel from enterprise work. AI chatbots present the latest challenge, but venture capitalists say nearly every AI spreadsheet startup they meet builds on top of Excel rather than replacing it.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/1428239/microsoft-excel-turns-40-remains-stubbornly-unkillable?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

India's dominant airline IndiGo has cancelled roughly 3,000 flights since last week after new pilot fatigue regulations collided with technical issues and the seasonal schedule shift, stranding more than half a million passengers and forcing aviation authorities to reverse course on the safety rules they had just implemented.

InterGlobe Aviation, IndiGo's parent company, told regulators that stricter requirements for night flying and weekly rest periods created an acute crew shortage. The Airline Pilots Association of India called the regulatory rollback a "dangerous precedent," noting that management had known about the requirements since early last year.

IndiGo controls 65.6% of India's domestic aviation market as of October 2025 and briefly became the world's most valuable airline in April. The crisis arrives as India's second-largest carrier, Air India, remains under investigation following a June crash that killed 241 passengers and crew. Authorities have imposed temporary price caps to prevent gouging.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/141227/indias-aviation-crisis-is-all-about-too-big-to-tame?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

- Помню, учили как муравейник пустить на корм. Если набрать прилично так муравьев - и подсушить у костра - получается что-то типа мясной (протеиновой) муки длительного хранения. Слегка перетереть, добавить немного воды - и можно жарить как котлеты. Вкус необычный, ближе всего по вкусу напоминает запеченную рыбу, сбрызнутую лимоном. Пары котлет хватит чтобы натурально наесться.

- На кого это ты учился? На коммандос?

- Хуже. Нас готовили в пионеры, так что из черепа коммандоса мы бы сделали скворечник.

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 13:08:07 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Системное программирование / Хабр

Это третья статья из цикла по разработке ОС на С++. В данной статье я познакомлю читателя, с прерываниями x86 реализуем ее поддержку. Добавим работу с клавиатурой. Познакомимся с такими устройствами как PIC и напишем код для работы и инициализации. Я так же буду делать упор, на абстракцию и высокоуровневый код.Заходите будет интересно. Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/articles/974890/

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 13:01:20 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Assembler / Хабр

Вообще-то на Хабре уже были статьи про Go-ассемблер, но они перегружены мудрёными терминами, разной низкоуровневой спецификой и не дают ясного понимания когда и зачем нам помогут помочь ассемблерные функции.В этой статье я постараюсь дать больше сути, необходимый минимум, чтобы стало ясно, в каких случаях и зачем нам может помочь ассемблер в Го. Ну и с чем его едят. Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/companies/ruvds/articles/973808/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has formally retracted a sweeping scientific paper published in 2000 that became a key defense for Monsanto's claim that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient glyphosate don't cause cancer. Martin van den Berg, the journal's editor in chief, said in a note accompanying the retraction that he had taken the step because of "serious ethical concerns regarding the independence and accountability of the authors of this article and the academic integrity of the carcinogenicity studies presented."

The paper, titled Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans, concluded that Monsanto's glyphosate-based weed killers posed no health risks to humans -- no cancer risks, no reproductive risks, no adverse effects on development of endocrine systems in people or animals. Regulators around the world have cited the paper as evidence of the safety of glyphosate herbicides, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in this assessment (PDF). [...]

In explaining the decision to retract the 25-year-old research paper, Van den Berg wrote: "Concerns were raised regarding the authorship of this paper, validity of the research findings in the context of misrepresentation of the contributions by the authors and the study sponsor and potential conflicts of interest of the authors." He noted that the paper's conclusions regarding the carcinogenicity of glyphosate were solely based on unpublished studies from Monsanto, ignoring other outside, published research. "The retraction of this study is a long time coming," said Brent Wisner, one of the lead lawyers in the Roundup litigation and a key player in getting the internal documents revealed to the public. Wisner said the study was the "quintessential example of how companies like Monsanto could fundamentally undermine the peer-review process through ghostwriting, cherrypicking unpublished studies, and biased interpretations."

"This garbage ghostwritten study finally got the fate it deserved,â Wisner added. "Hopefully, journals will now be more vigilant in protecting the impartiality of science on which so many people depend."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/053254/science-journal-retracts-study-on-safety-of-monsantos-roundup?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликован выпуск платформы PeerTube 8.0, предназначенной для создания независимых децентрализованных систем видеохостинга и видеовещания, альтернативных таким сервисам, как YouTube, Dailymotion и Vimeo. Создаваемая при помощи PeerTube сеть распространения контента основывается на связывании браузеров посетителей между собой и использовании P2P-коммуникаций. Код проекта распространяется под лицензией AGPLv3.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=64399

Researchers and moderators are increasingly concerned that ChatGPT-style language is bleeding into everyday speech and writing. The topic has been explored in the past but "two new, more anecdotal reports, suggest that our chatbot dialect isn't just something that can be found through close analysis of data," reports Gizmodo. "It might be an obvious, every day fact of life now." Slashdot reader joshuark shares an excerpt from the report: Over on Reddit, according to a new Wired story by Kat Tenbarge, moderators of certain subreddits are complaining about AI posts ruining their online communities. It's not new to observe that AI-armed spammers post low-value engagement bait on social media, but these are spaces like r/AmItheAsshole, r/AmIOverreacting, and r/AmITheDevil, where visitors crave the scintillation or outright titillation of bona fide human misbehavior. If, behind the scenes, there's not really a grieving college student having her tuition cut off for randomly flying off the handle at her stepmom, there's no real fun to be had. The mods in the Wired story explain how they detect AI content, and unfortunately their methods boil down to "It's vibes." But one novel struggle in the war against slop, the mods say, is that not only are human-written posts sometimes rewritten by AI, but mods are concerned that humans are now writing like AI. Humans are becoming flesh and blood AI-text generators, muddying the waters of AI "detection" to the point of total opacity.

As "Cassie" an r/AmItheAsshole moderator who only gave Wired her first name put it, "AI is trained off people, and people copy what they see other people doing." In other words, Cassie said, "People become more like AI, and AI becomes more like people." Meanwhile, essayist Sam Kriss just explored the weird way chatbots "write" for the latest issue of the New York Times Magazine, and he discovered along the way that humans have accidentally taken cues from that weirdness. After parsing chatbots' strange tics and tendencies -- such as overusing the word "delve" most likely because it's in a disproportional number of texts from Nigeria, where that word is popular -- Kriss refers to a previously reported trend from over the summer. Members of the U.K. Parliament were accused of using ChatGPT to write their speeches.

The thinking goes that ChatGPT-written speeches contained the phrase "I rise to speak," an American phrase, used by American legislators. But Kriss notes that it's not just showing up from time to time. It's being used with downright breathtaking frequency. "On a single day this June, it happened 26 times," he notes. While 26 different MPs using ChatGPT to write speeches is not some scientific impossibility, it's more likely an example of chatbots, "smuggling cultural practices into places they don't belong," to quote Kriss again. So when Kriss points out that when Starbucks locations were closing in September, and signs posted on the doors contained tortured sentences like, "It's your coffeehouse, a place woven into your daily rhythm, where memories were made, and where meaningful connections with our partners grew over the years," one can't state with certainty that this is AI-generated text (although let's be honest: it probably is).

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/0440240/evidence-that-humans-now-speak-in-a-chatbot-influenced-dialect-is-getting-stronger?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Корпорация IBM достигла соглашения о покупке компании Confluent, развивающей решения для обработки потоковых данных на основе открытой платформы Apache Kafka. Компания Confluent была основана в 2014 году создателями платформы Apache Kafka и после выхода на IPO в 2021 году достигла капитализации в 10 миллиардов долларов. Сумма сделки с IBM составит 11 миллиардов долларов ($31 за акцию). Примечательно, что платформа Apache Kafka изначально была создана компанией LinkedIn как внутренний продукт, который в 2011 году был открыт и передан Фонду Apache. В 2016 году сервис LinkedIn был куплен Microsoft за 26 миллиардов долларов.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=64398

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:16:10 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Программирование микроконтроллеров / Хабр

В предыдущих уроках курса схемотехники я узнал о комбинационной логике: это когда комбинация выходных сигналов зависит от входных сигналов, подаваемых только в текущий момент. Последовательностная логика же зависит от состояния входных сигналов и до текущего момента. То есть в какой последовательности что изменялось — поэтому называть логику «последовательной» будет ошибкой.На маршруте последовательностной логики меня поджидает своего рода counter strike — два секундомера в качестве финального проекта курса схемотехники. По пути освою новые компоненты… и новые среды эмуляции. Долой трехмерность, даешь эффективность! Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/companies/yadro/articles/974778/

TOP10 VISITORS:

[1] 217.197.116.x point=420 web=1 up=29.3MB (35%) <--- naste (18/hr)
[2] 37.252.14.x point=144 web=0 up=27.8MB (33%) <--- ake (6/hr)
[3] PetalBot point=2 web=1030 up=6.0MB (7%) <--- PetalBot
[4] Amazon point=0 web=153 up=4.8MB (5%)
[5] Google point=0 web=325 up=2.7MB (3%)
[6] 216.244.66.x point=0 web=42 up=2.5MB (3%)
[7] ChatGPT point=0 web=11 up=1.7MB (2%)
[8] TikTok point=1 web=221 up=1.5MB (1%) <--- TikTok
[9] 217.114.158.x point=26 web=0 up=1.0MB (1%) <--- fox (1/hr)
[10] Facebook point=0 web=27 up=0.4MB (<1%)

TOTAL TRAFFIC: 82MB

В кодовую базу ядра Linux, на основе которой формируется релиз 6.19, принят код подсистемы LUO (Live Update Orchestrator), разработанной компанией Google для обновления ядра в Live-режиме без физической перезагрузки. Подсистема базируется механизме KHO (Kexec HandOver), ранее добавленном в ядро 6.16 и реализующем возможность запуска нового ядра из старого без потери состояния системы.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=64397

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 07:00:50 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / Робототехника / Хабр

VLA-модели объединяют визуальное восприятие, понимание естественного языка и выполнение физических действий. Обычно они применяются для манипуляций — например, чтобы робот взял предмет или повернул рычаг. Но управление роботом, особенно летающим, это не всегда изменение состояния — иногда это перемещение его в трехмерном пространстве. Добавление VLA-моделей в этот сегмент робототехники может дать устройствам способность мыслить и принимать решения в условиях слабой связи или полной автономности. Такой подход особенно важен для задач, где нет права на ошибку, например в спасательных миссиях. Я Артем Лыков, ведущий RnD-разработчик в МТС Web Services. Параллельно работе — аспирант в лаборатории интеллектуальной космической робототехники Сколтеха (руководитель Дмитрий Тетерюков), где лидирую направление когнитивной робототехники. Сегодня расскажу, как в рамках научной работы вместе с коллегами по лаборатории мы обучили OpenVLA и создали CognitiveDrone — первую VLA-модель для летающих роботов. А также объясню, зачем мы внедрили модуль VLM и за счет чего он помог повысить качество решения когнитивных задач на 17,6%. Читать далее]]>

https://habr.com/ru/companies/ru_mts/articles/973554/

Anthropic is bringing Claude Code directly into Slack, letting developers spin up coding sessions from chat threads and automate workflows without leaving the app. TechCrunch reports: Previously, developers could only get lightweight coding help via Claude in Slack -- like writing snippets, debugging, and explanations. Now they can tag @Claude to spin up a complete coding session using Slack context like bug reports or feature requests. Claude analyzes recent messages to determine the right repository, posts progress updates in threads, and shares links to review work and open pull requests.

The move reflects a broader industry shift: AI coding assistants are migrating from IDEs (integrated development environment, where software development happens) into collaboration tools where teams already work. [...] While Anthropic has not yet confirmed when it would make a broader rollout available, the timing is strategic. The AI coding market is getting more competitive, and differentiation is starting to depend more on integration depth and distribution than model capability alone.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/0417242/claude-code-is-coming-to-slack?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Опубликовано: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:44:52 GMT
Канал: Все статьи подряд / DIY или Сделай сам / Хабр

Полгода назад 1500 бесплатных запросов в Gemini казались вечностью. Сегодня Google закрутил гайки, и лимиты улетают за час Я доработал свою Open Source утилиту на Python. В этой статье расскажу, как реализовать систему ротации API-ключей, чтобы получить «бесконечный» доступ к нейронке, как переключаться между моделями Gemini и Gemma на лету и внедрить AI-помощника прямо в буфер обмена Windows. Исходники и готовый билд — внутри. Посмотреть код]]>

https://habr.com/ru/articles/974706/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Since online genealogy services began operating, millions of people have sent them saliva samples in hopes of learning about their family roots and discovering far-flung relatives. These services also appeal to law enforcement authorities, who have used them to solve cold case murders and to investigate crimes like the 2022 killing of four University of Idaho students. Crime-scene DNA submitted to genealogy sites has helped investigators identify suspects and human remains by first identifying relatives.

The use of public records and family-tree building is crucial to this technique, and its main tool has been the genealogy site Ancestry, which has vast amounts of individual DNA profiles and public records. More than 1,400 cases have been solved with the help of so-called genetic genealogy investigations, most of them with help from Ancestry. But a recent step taken by the site is now deterring many police agencies from employing this crime-solving technique.

In August, Ancestry revised the terms and conditions on its site to make it clear that its services were off-limits "for law enforcement purposes" without a legal order or warrant, which can be hard to get, because of privacy concerns. This followed the addition last year to the terms and conditions that the services could not be used for "judicial proceedings." Investigators say the implications are dire and will result in crucial criminal cases slowing or stalling entirely, denying answers to grieving families. "Everyone who does this work has depended on the records database that Ancestry controls," said David Gurney, who runs Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey. "Without it, casework is going to be a lot slower, and there will be some cases that can't be resolved at all."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/008255/cold-case-inquiries-stall-after-ancestrycom-revisits-policy-for-users?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Europol's GRIMM taskforce has arrested nearly 200 people accused of running or participating in "violence-as-a-service" schemes where cybercrime groups recruit youth online for real-world attacks. "These individuals are groomed or coerced into committing a range of violent crimes, from acts of intimidation and torture to murder," the European police said on Monday. The Register reports: GRIMM began in April, and includes investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, plus Europol experts and online service providers. During its first six months, police involved in this operation arrested 63 people directly involved in carrying out or planning violent crimes, 40 "enablers" accused of facilitating violence-for-hire services, 84 recruiters, and six "instigators," five of whom the cops labeled "high-value targets." [...]

Many of the criminals involved in recruiting and carrying out these violence-for-hire services are also members of The Com. This is a loosely knit gang, primarily English speakers, involved in several interconnected networks of hackers, SIM swappers, and extortionists. Their reach has spread across the Atlantic, and over the summer, the FBI warned that a subset of this cybercrime group, called In Real Life (IRL) Com, poses a growing threat to youth. The FBI's security bulletin specifically called out IRL Com subgroups that offer swat-for-hire services, in which hoaxers falsely report shootings at someone's residence or call in bomb threats to trigger massive armed police responses at the victims' homes.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2359222/193-cybercrims-arrested-accused-of-plotting-violence-as-a-service?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

The Trump administration will allow Nvidia to resume selling H200 chips to China, but only if the U.S. government takes a 25% cut. Axios reports: Trump said on Truth Social that he'll allow Nvidia to sell H200 chips -- the generation of chips before its current, more-advanced Blackwell lineup -- to China, with the U.S. government pocketing a quarter of the revenue. He said he would apply "the same approach to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies."

American defense hawks fear that China could use Nvidia chips to advance its military ambitions. Trump said Monday that the sales will be subject to "conditions that allow for continued strong National Security." The blockade remains in place for Nvidia's current generation of Blackwell chips, which will be replaced in the second half of 2026 by even more advanced Rubin chips. Huang said recently he was unsure if China would want the older chips. "We applaud President Trump's decision to allow America's chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America," Nvidia said in a statement. "Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2351223/nvidia-can-sell-h200-chips-to-china-for-25-us-cut?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the U.S., the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis. The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year.

"The rapid, largely unregulated rise of datacenters to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening Americans' economic, environmental, climate and water security," the letter states, adding that approval of new data centers should be paused until new regulations are put in place. The push comes amid a growing revolt against moves by companies such as Meta, Google and Open AI to plow hundreds of billions of dollars into new datacenters, primarily to meet the huge computing demands of AI. At least 16 datacenter projects, worth a combined $64 billion, have been blocked or delayed due to local opposition to rising electricity costs. The facilities' need for huge amounts of water to cool down equipment has also proved controversial, particularly in drier areas where supplies are scarce. [...]

At the current rate of growth, datacenters could add up to 44m tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, equivalent to putting an extra 10m cars on to the road and exacerbating a climate crisis that is already spurring extreme weather disasters and ripping apart the fabric of the American insurance market. But it is the impact upon power bills, rather than the climate crisis, that is causing anguish for most voters, acknowledged Emily Wurth, managing director of organizing at Food & Water Watch, the group behind the letter to lawmakers. "I've been amazed by the groundswell of grassroots, bipartisan opposition to this, in all types of communities across the US," said Wurth. "Everyone is affected by this, the opposition has been across the political spectrum. A lot of people don't see the benefits coming from AI and feel they will be paying for it with their energy bills and water."

"It's an important talking point. We've seen outrageous utility price rises across the country and we are going to lean into this. Prices are going up across the board and this is something Americans really do care about."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2158223/more-than-200-environmental-groups-demand-halt-to-new-us-datacenters?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader hackingbear writes: Taiwan's government has ordered a one-year block of a popular, mainland Chinese-owned social media app Xiaohongshu, also known as The Little RedNote, citing its failure to cooperate with authorities over fraud-related concerns. Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited Xiaohongshu's, which does not have business presence on the island, refusal to cooperate with authorities as the basis for the ban, claiming that the platform has been linked to more than 1,700 fraud-related cases that resulted in financial losses of 247.7 million Taiwanese dollars ($7.9 million). "Due to the inability to obtain necessary data in accordance with the law, law enforcement authorities have encountered significant obstacles in investigations, creating a de facto legal vacuum," the ministry said in a statement.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Taiwan's opposition party, Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun decried the government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu for one year as censorship. "Many people online are already asking 'How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,'" Cheng posted on social media. Meta was facing fines earlier this year for failing to disclose information on individuals who funded advertisements on its social media platforms, marking the second such penalty in Taiwan for violating the anti-fraud act. "Meta failed to fully disclose information regarding who paid for the advertisement and who benefited from it," Depute Minister Lin of Ministry of Digital Affairs said at a news conference on June 18.

If MODA decides to impose the fine, it would mark the second such penalty against Meta in Taiwan, following a NT$1 million ($33,381) fine issued in May for violating the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act by failing to disclose information on individuals who commissioned and funded two Facebook advertisements. Meta's Threads were also included in the regulatory framework following nearly 1,900 fraud-related reports associated with the platform, with 718 confirmed as scams. Xiaohongshu has surged in popularity among young Taiwanese in recent years, amassing 3 million users in the island of 23 million.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2148249/taiwan-cries-censorship-as-government-bans-rednote?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

IBM is buying Confluent for $11 billion in a major push to own real-time data streaming infrastructure essential for enterprise AI workloads. It marks Big Blue's biggest acquisition since Red Hat in 2019. Bloomberg reports: The AI boom has touched off billions of dollars in deals for businesses that build, train or leverage the technology, propelling the value of an entire ecosystem of data center developers, software makers, generative AI tool developers and data management firms. Mountain View, California-based Confluent sits in the data corner of that world, providing a platform for companies to gather -- or "stream" -- and analyze data in real time as opposed to shipping data in clunkier batches.

Manufacturers such as Michelin, for example, have used Confluent's platform to optimize their inventories of raw and semi-finished materials live. Instacart adopted Confluent to develop real-time fraud detection systems and gain more visibility into the availability of products sold on its grocery delivery platform. Businesses are increasingly tapping AI systems that manage tasks like this in real-time and require live flows of data to do so. IBM, which pioneered mainframe computers, has been trying to reposition its business around AI over the past few years. Under Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna, it's been buying software companies and selling generative AI-related services to enterprise clients. Software now makes up almost half its total revenue and continues to grow at a steady rate.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2141229/ibm-to-buy-confluent-for-11-billion-to-expand-ai-services?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Firefox 146 has been released with native fractional scaling support on Wayland -- finally giving Linux users crisp UI rendering. Other new additions include GPU process improvements on macOS, developer-focused CSS features, and broader access to Firefox Labs. Phoronix reports: Firefox 146 also now makes Firefox Labs available to all users, Firefox on macOS now has a dedicated GPU process by default, dropping Direct2D support on Windows, support for compressed elliptic curve points in WebCrypto, and updated the bundled Skia graphics library. Firefox 146 also has some fun developer enhancements like support for the CSS text-decoration-inset property, the @scope rule now being supported, CSS contrast-color() function being available, and several new experimental web features. The release notes and developer changes can be found at their respective links. Release binaries are available at Mozilla.org.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/08/2135208/firefox-146-now-available-with-native-fractional-scaling-on-wayland?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Meta's proposal to use less personal data for targeted advertising in its pay-or-consent model that will be rolled out next month won the approval of EU antitrust regulators on Monday, signaling the company will not face daily fines after all. [...] The U.S. tech giant has been locked in discussions with the European Commission after getting hit with a $233 million fine in April for breaching the Digital Markets Act aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech. The violation covered Facebook and Instagram in the period from November 2023 to November 2024, after which Meta tweaked its pay-or-consent model to use less personal data for targeted advertising.

The EU executive has been examining the changes to see if they comply with the DMA, with Meta risking daily fines of as much as 5% of its average daily worldwide turnover if found to be still in breach of the law. The tweaks are in wording, design and transparency to remind users of the two options. Meta did not plan on any substantial changes to its November proposal despite the risk of EU fines, people with direct knowledge of the matter had told Reuters. The Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, acknowledged Meta's November proposal, saying that it will monitor the new ad model and seek feedback, with no more talk of periodic fines. "Meta will give users the effective choice between consenting to share all their data and seeing fully personalized advertising, and opting to share less personal data for an experience with more limited personalized advertising," the Commission said in a statement.

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Lenovo may be preparing to unveil a gaming laptop that uses rollable OLED technology to expand horizontally into an ultrawide 21:9 display, according to a Windows Latest report suggesting the device could appear at CES 2026 in January. The Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable would differ from the company's existing ThinkBook Plus Gen 6, which expands its screen vertically.

The new gaming-focused design would see the left and right edges of the display extend beyond the laptop's base chassis when unrolled. Specific details remain scarce. Windows Latest doesn't know the display resolution, refresh rate, screen dimensions in either state, pricing, or release timing -- though it does mention an Intel Core Ultra processor. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 currently sells for $3,500.

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The influencer economy that Goldman Sachs projects will reach nearly half a trillion dollars by 2027 depends on a less-examined population: the influenced, millions of people who find themselves accumulating debt and clutter after years of exposure to what amounts to a 24/7 digital infomercial.

Antoinette Hocbo, a former marketing professional who knows the tricks brands use to chip away at willpower, bought a $199 Pilates program, an iPad, and an arsenal of makeup products after TikTok's algorithm served her a stream of aspirational content. The Pilates gear now sits unused. Elysia Berman accumulated over $50,000 in debt across four credit cards and four buy-now-pay-later services during the pandemic, purchasing items she never wore because influencers recommended them.

A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found 62% of adults on TikTok use the platform to find product reviews and recommendations. Marketing expert Mara Einstein told The Verge that brands now need seven exposures to prompt consumer action, up from three in the pre-social media era. The vastness of the internet has allowed available products to bloat beyond imagination.

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China has contributed less to global growth this year than the U.S. despite Beijing's frequent criticism of protectionism, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis citing new research from Goldman Sachs economists. U.S. imports are up 10% so far this year compared to a year earlier, while China's imports have fallen 3% in dollar terms. Goldman's economists found that the historical relationship between Chinese growth and global growth has turned negative; where 1% more Chinese output once raised world output by 0.2%, the bank now projects.

China will grow about 0.6 percentage points faster annually over the next few years while reducing the rest of the world's growth by 0.1 point per year. China's current account surplus could reach 1% of world GDP by 2029, Goldman estimates, larger than any country's since the late 1940s. China now accounts for 17% of global GDP.

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Denmark's postal service, established by King Christian IV four centuries ago as one of Europe's first modern mail systems, will stop delivering letters on December 30, ending a tradition that once saw riders given a maximum of 45 minutes to cover each 10-kilometer stretch of routes running from Hamburg to Norway.

PostNord, the postal service Denmark has shared with Sweden since 2009, started removing its 1,500 remaining red post boxes in June; a handful will go to museums. Letter volumes collapsed from nearly 1.5 billion in 2000 to 110 million last year. A standard stamp now costs 29 Danish kroner ($4.52). A private logistics firm called DAO will take over letter delivery. PostNord will continue handling parcels. The decision has rattled postal services elsewhere in Europe. Deutsche Post in Germany, still delivering 61 million letters daily, has warned it faces the same trends.

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