The Canadian government has launched a six-year, $3.9 billion design phase for a high-speed rail project connecting Toronto and Quebec City, with electric trains reaching up to 300 km/h. Construction is expected to begin after the design phase, potentially in four to five years, but future governments could modify or cancel the project. CBC News reports: "Today I'm announcing the launch of Alto, the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history," Trudeau said from Montreal. "A reliable, efficient, high-speed rail network will be a game-changer for Canadians." Trudeau said the new rail network will run all-electric trains along 1,000 kilometers of track, reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour, with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivieres and Quebec City. A government statement said the project will stimulate the economy, "boosting GDP by up to $35 billion annually, creating over 51,000 good-paying jobs during construction."

Trudeau said that once built, the new high-speed rail network will take passengers from Montreal to Toronto in three hours -- about half the time it takes to drive and at double the speed of Via Rail's current trains. [...] Trudeau said the consortium Cadence -- made up of CDPQ Infra, Atkins Realis, Keolis, SYSTRA, SNCF Voyageurs and Air Canada -- was selected to build the line. The group was only informed in the last 24 hours that their bid was the best of the three submitted, according to sources that spoke to Radio-Canada. Transport Minister Anita Anand said that Alto, the Crown corporation created to oversee the project, and Cadence will be signing a contract "in the coming weeks" that will outline the first-phase design work, such as where track will be laid and where stations will be built.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/20/0540215/canada-announces-first-high-speed-rail-between-toronto-and-quebec-city?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot. ... [>>>]

Palantir CEO Alex Karp warns of "coming swarms of autonomous robots" and urges Silicon Valley to support U.S. defense capabilities. In his book, "The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West," Karp argues that America risks losing its military edge to geopolitical rivals who better harness commercial technology.

He calls for the "engineering elite of Silicon Valley" to work with the government on national defense. The message comes as Palantir's stock has surged more than 1,800% since early 2023, pushing its market value above $292 billion -- exceeding traditional defense contractors Lockheed Martin and RTX combined. The company has expanded its military AI work since 2018, when it took over a Pentagon contract after Google employees protested their company's defense work.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/20/0333203/palantir-ceo-calls-for-tech-patriotism-warns-of-ai-warfare?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft will strip several features from Windows 11's File Explorer for European users to comply with privacy regulations, the company says. The changes, affecting Entra ID accounts in the European Economic Area, remove Recent, Favorites, Details Pane, and Recommended content sections that previously tracked user activity.

These features relied on collecting user data to display recently accessed files and personalized recommendations. The privacy-focused update, part of Windows 11 preview build 26120.3281, results in a streamlined File Explorer interface.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/20/0227241/microsoft-declutters-windows-11-file-explorer-in-the-name-of-euro-privacy?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

"[O]ur intrepid China reporter, Caiwei Chen, has identified a new trend unfolding within China's tech scene: Companies that were dominant in electric vehicles are betting big on translating that success into developing humanoid robots," writes MIT Technology Review's James O'Donnell. "I spoke with her about what she found out and what it might mean for Trump's policies and the rest of the globe..." An anonymous reader quotes an excerpt from the report: Your story looks at electric-vehicle makers in China that are starting to work on humanoid robots, but I want to ask about a crazy stat. In China, 53% of vehicles sold are either electric or hybrid, compared with 8% in the US. What explains that?

Price is a huge factor -- there are countless EV brands competing at different price points, making them both affordable and high-quality. Government incentives also play a big role. In Beijing, for example, trading in an old car for an EV gets you 10,000 RMB (about $1,500), and that subsidy was recently doubled. Plus, finding public charging and battery-swapping infrastructure is much less of a hassle than in the US.

You open your story noting that China's recent New Year Gala, watched by billions of people, featured a cast of humanoid robots, dancing and twirling handkerchiefs. We've covered how sometimes humanoid videos can be misleading. What did you think?

I would say I was relatively impressed -- the robots showed good agility and synchronization with the music, though their movements were simpler than human dancers'. The one trick that is supposed to impress the most is the part where they twirl the handkerchief with one finger, toss it into the air, and then catch it perfectly. This is the signature of the Yangko dance, and having performed it once as a child, I can attest to how difficult the trick is even for a human! There was some skepticism on the Chinese internet about how this was achieved and whether they used additional reinforcement like a magnet or a string to secure the handkerchief, and after watching the clip too many times, I tend to agree. ... [>>>]

The SS United States, a historic ocean liner that once held the transatlantic speed record of 36 knots (41 mph / 66 kph), has departed Philadelphia to be transformed into the world's largest artificial reef off Florida's Gulf Coast. The move is part of a $10 million project to boost tourism by creating a unique diving attraction while preserving the ship's legacy as a symbol of American innovation and engineering. The Associated Press reports: The SS United States, a 1,000-foot vessel that shattered the transatlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, is being towed to Mobile, Alabama, for planned prep work before officials eventually sink it off Florida's Gulf Coast. The move comes about four months after the conservancy that oversees the ship and its landlord resolved a years-old rent dispute. Officials initially planned to move the vessel last November, but that was delayed due to concerns from the U.S. Coast Guard that the ship wasn't stable enough to make the trip.

Officials in Okaloosa County on Florida's coastal Panhandle hope it will become a barnacle-encrusted standout among the county's more than 500 artificial reefs and a signature diving attraction that could generate millions of dollars annually in local tourism spending for scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels. Officials have said the deal to buy the ship could eventually cost more than $10 million. The lengthy process of cleaning, transporting and sinking the vessel is expected to take at least one-and-a-half years.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/221253/historic-ocean-liner-departs-philadelphia-on-voyage-to-become-the-worlds-largest-artificial-reef?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Murena has launched the Murena Pixel Tablet, a de-Googled version of the Pixel Tablet that removes Google's apps and services to enhance user privacy. Priced at $549, it offers /e/OS, an alternative app store, and privacy-focused productivity tools, but lacks Google's speaker dock and direct access to the Play Store. The Verge reports: First announced last December, the Murena Pixel Tablet is available now through the company's online store for $549. That's a steep premium given Google currently sells the same 128GB version of the Pixel Tablet for $399, or $479 as part of a bundle with the charging speaker dock that Murena isn't including. Part of Murena's de-Googling of the Pixel Tablet includes the removal of the Google Play Store. You can still download apps through /e/OS' App Lounge which acts as a front-end for the Play Store allowing you to browse and get free apps anonymously without Google knowing who you are. However, downloading paid apps requires a login to a Google account. Google's various productivity apps aren't included, but the Murena Pixel Tablet comes with privacy-minded alternatives for messaging, email, maps, browsing the web, calendar, contacts, notes, and even voice recordings. In 2022, Murena launched its first smartphone with no Google apps, Google Play Services, or even the Google Assistant.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/2151255/murena-released-a-de-googled-version-of-the-pixel-tablet?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Valve has made Team Fortress 2's full client and server code public, allowing fans to modify, extend, or rewrite the game as long as their projects remain non-commercial. Game Rant reports: Valve has made Team Fortress 2's server and client code fully public, with the studio encouraging fans to explore the game's files and make it what they want. The game's code is now available thanks to a new update to the Source SDK, which dropped earlier this week. Fans have already been creating TF2 mods for years, but what this essentially means is that fans can make brand-new games. However, there's one catch: any and all TF2 mods must be released for free. "The majority of items in the game now are thanks to the hard work of the TF2 community." Valve wrote. "To respect that, we're asking TF2 mod makers to continue to respect that connection and not to make mods that have the purpose of trying to profit off Workshop contributors' efforts."

"TF2 mods may be published on the Steam Store, and after publication will appear as new games in the Steam game list," Valve continued. The new SDK update also includes new 64-bit binary support and fixes for multiplayer Source games like Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Counter-Strike: Source, and Day of Defeat: Source. Time will only tell what fans come up with as they dig deep into the inner workings of the game, but given how passionate and talented the Team Fortress 2 community has proven to be, players can expect to see some incredible creations.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/2145217/valve-releases-team-fortress-2-full-client-and-source-code?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

A recently patched Palo Alto Networks vulnerability (CVE-2025-0108) is being actively exploited alongside two older flaws (CVE-2024-9474 and CVE-2025-0111), allowing attackers to gain root access to unpatched firewalls. The Register reports: This story starts with CVE-2024-9474, a 6.9-rated privilege escalation vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software that allowed an OS administrator with access to the management web interface to perform actions on the firewall with root privileges. The company patched it in November 2024. Dark web intelligence services vendor Searchlight Cyber's Assetnote team investigated the patch for CVE-2024-9474 and found another authentication bypass.

Palo Alto (PAN) last week fixed that problem, CVE-2025-0108, and rated it a highest urgency patch as the 8.8/10 flaw addressed an access control issue in PAN-OS's web management interface that allowed an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to bypass authentication "and invoke certain PHP scripts." Those scripts could "negatively impact integrity and confidentiality of PAN-OS."

The third flaw is CVE-2025-0111 a 7.1-rated mess also patched last week to stop authenticated attackers with network access to PAN-OS machines using their web interface to read files accessible to the "nobody" user. On Tuesday, US time, Palo A lot updated its advisory for CVE-2025-0108 with news that it's observed exploit attempts chaining CVE-2024-9474 and CVE-2025-0111 on unpatched and unsecured PAN-OS web management interfaces. The vendor's not explained how the three flaws are chained but we understand doing so allows an attacker to gain more powerful privileges and gain full root access to the firewall. PAN is urging users to upgrade their PAN-OS operating systems to versions 10.1, 10.2, 11.0, 11.1, and 11.2. A general hotfix is expected by Thursday or sooner, notes the Register.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/2059256/palo-alto-firewalls-under-attack-as-miscreants-chain-flaws-for-root-access?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot. ... [>>>]

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For a while now, many AI researchers have been working to integrate a so-called "world model" into their systems. Ideally, these models could infer a simulated understanding of how in-game objects and characters should behave based on video footage alone, then create fully interactive video that instantly simulates new playable worlds based on that understanding. Microsoft Research's new World and Human Action Model (WHAM), revealed today in a paper published in the journal Nature, shows how quickly those models have advanced in a short time. But it also shows how much further we have to go before the dream of AI crafting complete, playable gameplay footage from just some basic prompts and sample video footage becomes a reality.

Much like Google's Genie model before it, WHAM starts by training on "ground truth" gameplay video and input data provided by actual players. In this case, that data comes from Bleeding Edge, a four-on-four online brawler released in 2020 by Microsoft subsidiary Ninja Theory. By collecting actual player footage since launch (as allowed under the game's user agreement), Microsoft gathered the equivalent of seven player-years' worth of gameplay video paired with real player inputs. Early in that training process, Microsoft Research's Katja Hoffman said the model would get easily confused, generating inconsistent clips that would "deteriorate [into] these blocks of color." After 1 million training updates, though, the WHAM model started showing basic understanding of complex gameplay interactions, such as a power cell item exploding after three hits from the player or the movements of a specific character's flight abilities. The results continued to improve as the researchers threw more computing resources and larger models at the problem, according to the Nature paper.

To see just how well the WHAM model generated new gameplay sequences, Microsoft tested the model by giving it up to one second's worth of real gameplay footage and asking it to generate what subsequent frames would look like based on new simulated inputs. To test the model's consistency, Microsoft used actual human input strings to generate up to two minutes of new AI-generated footage, which was then compared to actual gameplay results using the Frechet Video Distance metric. Microsoft boasts that WHAM's outputs can stay broadly consistent for up to two minutes without falling apart, with simulated footage lining up well with actual footage even as items and environments come in and out of view. That's an improvement over even the "long horizon memory" of Google's Genie 2 model, which topped out at a minute of consistent footage. Microsoft also tested WHAM's ability to respond to a diverse set of randomized inputs not found in its training data. These tests showed broadly appropriate responses to many different input sequences based on human annotations of the resulting footage, even as the best models fell a bit short of the "human-to-human baseline." ... [>>>]

Cameron John Wagenius pleaded guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the companies, according to court records filed on Wednesday. From a report: Wagenius, who was a U.S. Army soldier, pleaded guilty to two counts of "unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information" on an online forum and via an online communications platform.

According to a document filed by Wagenius' lawyer, he faces a maximum fine of $250,000 and prison time of up to 10 years for each of the two counts. Wagenius was arrested and indicted last year. In January, U.S. prosecutors confirmed that the charges brought against Wagenius were linked to the indictment of Connor Moucka and John Binns, two alleged hackers whom the U.S. government accused of several data breaches against cloud computing services company Snowflake, which were among the worst hacks of 2024.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1942232/us-army-soldier-pleads-guilty-to-att-and-verizon-hacks?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

France has upped the ante in the quest for fusion power by maintaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes -- a new record. From a report: The milestone was reached on February 12 at the Commissariat a lenergie atomique et aux energies alternatives (CEA) WEST Tokamak reactor.

Achieving the dream of commercial fusion power is the Holy Grail of engineering and has been for 80 years. With a single gram of hydrogen isotopes yielding the energy equivalent of 11 tonnes of coal, a practical fusion reactor would hold the promise of unlimited, clean energy for humanity until the end of time.

Small wonder that billions have been invested by both government and industry in the quest to make fusion power a reality. However, while fusion is relatively easy to achieve in the heart of the sun or in a hydrogen bomb, creating a practical reactor that produces more energy than is put into it is another matter entirely.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1922241/france-runs-fusion-reactor-for-record-22-minutes?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Nikola, the hydrogen-truck maker that briefly sported a market value comparable to Ford Motor, has filed for bankruptcy with plans to wind down its business. From a report: Nikola on Wednesday said that it made the chapter 11 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and that it plans to conduct a court-supervised auction of its assets.

The Phoenix company said it worked for months with its financial and legal advisers to find a way to sustain its operations before determining that a structured sale process was the best way to maximize the value of its assets.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1459220/nikola-files-for-bankruptcy-with-plans-to-sell-assets-wind-down?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Apple has launched the iPhone 16E, featuring a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, an A18 chipset, USB-C, 48MP camera, and support for Apple Intelligence. Gone but not forgotten: the home button, Touch ID and 64GB of base storage. The Verge reports: The 16E includes the customizable Action Button, but not the new Camera Control you'll find on the 16 series. It does swap its Lightning port for USB-C, now a requirement for the phone to be sold in the EU. On the inside, there's an A18 chipset, the same chip as the iPhone 16. That makes the 16E powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence, the suite of AI tools that includes notification summaries. Even the non-Pro iPhone 15 can't do that, so the 16E is one of the most capable iPhones out there. Apple has previously confirmed that 8GB RAM was the minimum to get Apple Intelligence support in the iPhone 16 series, so it's likely that the 16E also boasts at least that much memory. It's also been bumped to a baseline of 128GB of storage, meaning there's no longer a 64GB iPhone.

There's only a single 48-megapixel rear camera; the lack of additional cameras is the biggest downgrade compared to the company's other handsets. With support for wireless charging and a water-resistant IP rating, there's little you have to give up elsewhere. The iPhone 16E is also the first iPhone to include a modem developed by Apple itself. The company has spent years trying to move away from modems developed by Qualcomm, and we're finally seeing the fruits of that labor. The big questions now are how well the new modem performs and whether Apple is ready to roll out its own connectivity components in the iPhone 17 line later this year. It's available for Friday starting at $599 with 128GB of storage.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1658240/apple-launches-the-iphone-16e-with-in-house-modem-and-support-for-ai?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot. ... [>>>]

After two decades of quantum computing research, Microsoft has unveiled its first quantum chip: the Majorana 1. CNBC reports: Microsoft's quantum chip employs eight topological qubits using indium arsenide, which is a semiconductor, and aluminum, which is a superconductor. A new paper in the journal Nature describes the chip in detail. Microsoft won't be allowing clients to use its Majorana 1 chip through the company's Azure public cloud, as it plans to do with its custom artificial intelligence chip, Maia 100. Instead, Majorana 1 is a step toward a goal of a million qubits on a chip, following extensive physics research.

Rather than rely on Taiwan Semiconductor or another company for fabrication, Microsoft is manufacturing the components of Majorana 1 itself in the U.S. That's possible because the work is unfolding at a small scale. "We want to get to a few hundred qubits before we start talking about commercial reliability," Jason Zander, a Microsoft executive vice president, told CNBC. In the meantime, the company will engage with national laboratories and universities on research using Majorana 1.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1651235/microsoft-reveals-its-first-quantum-computing-chip-the-majorana-1?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

AI hardware startup Humane -- which has been acquired by HP -- has given its users just ten days notice that their Pins will be disconnected. From a report: In a note to its customers, the company said AI Pins will "continue to function normally" until 12PM PT on February 28. On that date, users will lose access to essentially all of their device's features, including but not limited to calling, messaging, AI queries and cloud access. The FAQ does note that you'll still be able to check on your battery life, though.

Humane is encouraging its users to download any stored data before February 28, as it plans on permanently deleting "all remaining customer data" at the same time as switching its servers off.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1217252/all-of-humanes-ai-pins-will-stop-working-in-10-days?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft has placed its new AI-powered text rewrite feature in Notepad behind a subscription paywall, requiring users to have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan to access the functionality. While the core text editor remains free and accessible without a Microsoft account, the AI feature requires users to sign in and have sufficient "AI credits" included in their subscription.Users can disable the feature and hide its icon if they choose not to subscribe.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1356215/microsoft-puts-notepads-ai-rewrite-feature-behind-paywall?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Apple has told Britain's competition regulator that some of the remedy options proposed by the watchdog to address concerns in the mobile browser market would impact the iPhone maker's incentive to innovate. From a report: The responses from Apple and Google to the regulator's investigation in the supply of mobile browsers and browser engines and the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices in the country were published on the government website on Wednesday.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1349205/apple-says-uk-regulators-remedy-options-on-mobile-browsers-will-hit-innovation?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Google has built an AI laboratory assistant to help scientists accelerate biomedical research [non-paywalled source], as companies race to create specialised applications from the cutting-edge technology. From a report: The US tech group's so-called co-scientist tool helps researchers identify gaps in their knowledge and propose new ideas that could speed up scientific discovery. "What we're trying to do with our project is see whether technology like the AI co-scientist can give these researchers superpowers," said Alan Karthikesalingam, a senior staff clinician scientist at Google.

[...] Early tests of Google's new tool with experts from Stanford University, Imperial College London and Houston Methodist hospital found it was able to generate scientific hypotheses that showed promising results. The tool was able to reach the same conclusions -- for a novel gene transfer mechanism that helps scientists understand the spread of antimicrobial resistance -- as a new breakthrough from researchers at Imperial. Imperial's results were not in the public domain as they were being peer-reviewed in a top scientific journal. This showed that Google's co-scientist tool was able to reach the same hypothesis using AI reasoning in a matter of just days, compared with the years the university team spent researching the problem.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1433205/google-builds-ai-co-scientist-tool-to-speed-up-research?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Leading AI models can fix broken code, but they're nowhere near ready to replace human software engineers, according to extensive testing [PDF] by OpenAI researchers. The company's latest study put AI models and systems through their paces on real-world programming tasks, with even the most advanced models solving only a quarter of typical engineering challenges.

The research team created a test called SWE-Lancer, drawing from 1,488 actual software fixes made to Expensify's codebase, representing $1 million worth of freelance engineering work. When faced with these everyday programming tasks, the best AI model â" Claude 3.5 Sonnet -- managed to complete just 26.2% of hands-on coding tasks and 44.9% of technical management decisions.

Though the AI systems proved adept at quickly finding relevant code sections, they stumbled when it came to understanding how different parts of software interact. The models often suggested surface-level fixes without grasping the deeper implications of their changes.

The research, to be sure, used a set of complex methodologies to test the AI coding abilities. Instead of relying on simplified programming puzzles, OpenAI's benchmark uses complete software engineering tasks that range from quick $50 bug fixes to complex $32,000 feature implementations. Each solution was verified through rigorous end-to-end testing that simulated real user interactions, the researchers said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/1212257/ai-can-write-code-but-lacks-engineers-instinct-openai-study-finds?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Niantic, the company behind the 2016 hit Pokemon Go, is in talks to sell its video-game business to Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely, according to several people familiar with the discussions. A deal could be announced in coming weeks. The price being discussed is about $3.5 billion, according to one of the people. Any agreement would involve the Pokemon title as well as other mobile games, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. There's no assurance an agreement will be reached.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/059211/pokemon-go-maker-nears-35-billion-deal-to-sell-games-unit?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Microsoft is reminding IT administrators that WSUS driver synchronization will be deprecated on April 18, 2025, urging them to transition to cloud-based update solutions like Windows Autopatch, Azure Update Manager, and Microsoft Intune. "For on-premises contexts, drivers will be available on the Microsoft Update catalog, but you won't be able to import them into WSUS," the company said in a Windows message center update on Tuesday. "You'll need to use any of the available alternative solutions, such as Device Driver Packages, or transition to cloud-based driver services for your organization, such as Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopatch." BleepingComputer reports: This reminder follows two other warnings issued since June 2024, announcing the deprecation of WSUS driver synchronization and encouraging customers to adopt Redmond's newer cloud-based driver services. The company also revealed in September 2024 that WSUS had been deprecated, but Microsoft added that it plans to keep publishing updates through the channel and maintain all existing capabilities. This announcement came after WSUS was listed on August 13 as one of the "features removed or no longer developed starting with Windows Server 2025."

"Specifically, this means that we are no longer investing in new capabilities, nor are we accepting new feature requests for WSUS," Microsoft's Nir Froimovici said at the time. "However, we are preserving current functionality and will continue to publish updates through the WSUS channel. We will also support any content already published through the WSUS channel."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/055211/microsoft-reminds-admins-to-prepare-for-wsus-driver-sync-deprecation?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the White House confirmed that it would not proceed with laying off more than 1,000 probationary employees at NASA. "NASA had sought exemptions for all of these employees, who comprise about 6 percent of NASA's workforce," notes Ars Technica. "The Trump administration has sought to fire federal employees at several federal agencies who are in the 'probationary' period of their employment. This includes new hires within the last one or two years or long-time employees who have moved into or been promoted into a new position." From the report: It was not immediately clear why. A NASA spokesperson in Washington, DC, offered no comment on the updated guidance. Two sources indicated that it was plausible that private astronaut Jared Isaacman, whom President Trump has nominated to lead the space agency, asked for the cuts to be put on hold.

Although this could not be confirmed, it seems reasonable that Isaacman would want to retain some control over where cuts at the agency are made. Firing all probationary employees -- which is the most expedient way to reduce the size of government -- is a blunt instrument. It whacks new hires that the agency may have recruited for key positions, as well as high performers who earned promotions.

The reprieve in these terminations does not necessarily signal that NASA will escape significant budget or employment cuts in the coming months. The administration could still seek to terminate probationary employees. In addition, Ars reported earlier that directors at the agency's field centers have been told to prepare options for a "significant" reduction in force in the coming months. The scope of these cuts has not been defined, and it's likely they would need to be negotiated with Congress.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/0458222/in-a-last-minute-decision-white-house-decides-not-to-terminate-nasa-employees?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot. ... [>>>]

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Astronomers have detected over 5,800 confirmed exoplanets. One extreme class is ultra-hot Jupiters, of particular interest because they can provide a unique window into planetary atmospheric dynamics. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature, astronomers have mapped the 3D structure of the layered atmosphere of one such ultra-hot Jupiter-size exoplanet, revealing powerful winds that create intricate weather patterns across that atmosphere. A companion paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics (PDF) reported on the unexpected identification of titanium in the exoplanet's atmosphere as well. [...]

This latest research relied on observational data collected by the European South Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope, specifically, a spectroscopic instrument called ESPRESSO that can process light collected from the four largest VLT telescope units into one signal. The target exoplanet, WASP-121b -- aka Tylos -- is located in the Puppis constellation about 900 light-years from Earth. One year on Tylos is equivalent to just 30 hours on Earth, thanks to the exoplanet's close proximity to its host star. Since one side is always facing the star, it is always scorching, while the exoplanet's other side is significantly colder.

Those extreme temperature contrasts make it challenging to figure out how energy is distributed in the atmospheric system, and mapping out the 3D structure can help, particularly with determining the vertical circulation patterns that are not easily replicated in our current crop of global circulation models, per the authors. For their analysis, they combined archival ESPRESSO data collected on November 30, 2018, with new data collected on September 23, 2023. They focused on three distinct chemical signatures to probe the deep atmosphere (iron), mid-atmosphere (sodium), and shallow atmosphere (hydrogen). "What we found was surprising: A jet stream rotates material around the planet's equator, while a separate flow at lower levels of the atmosphere moves gas from the hot side to the cooler side. This kind of climate has never been seen before on any planet," said Julia Victoria Seidel of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile and the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in France. "This planet's atmosphere behaves in ways that challenge our understanding of how weather works -- not just on Earth, but on all planets. It feels like something out of science fiction." ... [>>>]

Nvidia has confirmed on its forums that the RTX 50 series GPUs no longer support 32-bit PhysX. Tom's Hardware reports: As far as we know, there are no 64-bit games with integrated PhysX technology, thus terminating the tech entirely on RTX 50 series GPUs and newer. RTX 40 series and older will still be able to run 32-bit CUDA applications and thus PhysX, but regardless, the technology is now officially retired, starting with Blackwell. [...]

The only way now to run PhysX on RTX 50 series GPUs (or newer) is to install a secondary RTX 40 series or older graphics card and slave it to PhysX duty in the Nvidia control panel. As far as we are aware, Nvidia has not disabled this sort of functionality. But the writing is on the wall for PhysX, and we doubt there will be any future games that attempt to use the API.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/0038255/nvidia-ends-32-bit-cuda-app-support-for-geforce-rtx-50-series?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Valve removed the game PirateFi from Steam after discovering it was laced with the Vidar infostealer malware, designed to steal sensitive user data such as passwords, cookies, cryptocurrency wallets, and more. TechCrunch reports: Marius Genheimer, a researcher who analyzed the malware and works at SECUINFRA Falcon Team, told TechCrunch that judging by the command and control servers associated with the malware and its configuration, "we suspect that PirateFi was just one of multiple tactics used to distribute Vidar payloads en masse." "It is highly likely that it never was a legitimate, running game that was altered after first publication," said Genheimer. In other words, PirateFi was designed to spread malware.

Genheimer and colleagues also found that PirateFi was built by modifying an existing game template called Easy Survival RPG, which bills itself as a game-making app that "gives you everything you need to develop your own singleplayer or multiplayer" game. The game maker costs between $399 and $1,099 to license. This explains how the hackers were able to ship a functioning video game with their malware with little effort.

According to Genheimer, the Vidar infostealing malware is capable of stealing and exfiltrating several types of data from the computers it infects, including: passwords from the web browser autofill feature, session cookies that can be used to log in as someone without needing their password, web browser history, cryptocurrency wallet details, screenshots, and two-factor codes from certain token generators, as well as other files on the person's computer.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/0031255/hackers-planted-a-steam-game-with-malware-to-steal-gamers-passwords?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Meta's WhatsApp messaging service has surpassed 45 million users, earning the designation of a "Very Large Online Platform" under the EU's Digital Services Act. Bloomberg reports: WhatsApp's open channels, which are feeds affiliated with news outlets or public figures that under the DSA are comparable to a social network, averaged about 46.8 million monthly average users in the second half of 2024, Meta said in a filing on Feb. 14 that hasn't previously been reported. [...] The DSA content moderation rulebook imposes stricter requirements on very large online platforms, defined as those whose EU-based monthly active users exceed 45 million. Users of WhatsApp's core messaging feature do not count toward the designation under the DSA.

The commission would still need to rule that WhatsApp should be included in the more regulated tier. Under the DSA, very large online platforms must carry out risk assessments on the spread of illegal or harmful content, and put in place a mitigation strategy. Fines under the DSA can reach as much as 6% of a company's annual global sales. The DSA requires platforms to disclose user numbers every six months. Messaging service Telegram also published an update this week, saying that monthly EU users of its public channels are "significantly fewer than 45 million."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/19/0017218/whatsapp-faces-tougher-eu-rules-as-users-top-45-million?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books. From a report: While iOS apps today can offer access to content previously purchased elsewhere, like e-books bought via a website, developers have to request a specific exception to link their iOS app's users to the company's own website to make purchases. According to a brief post on Google's blog, users will now be able to click on a new "Get book" button in the Google Play Books iOS app which will take them to the Google Play website to complete their e-book or audiobook purchase.

From there, users will be able to see their recently opened book listings and complete a purchase using their Google Account and saved payment information. By processing the transaction on its own website, Google can avoid paying Apple a commission (generally 30%) on in-app purchases of digital content.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/2158214/google-play-books-purchases-on-ios-now-skirt-the-app-stores-commission?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has launched Thinking Machines Lab with several leaders from OpenAI on board, including John Schulman, Barrett Zoph, and Jonathan Lachman. Their mission is "to make AI systems more widely understood, customizable, and generally capable," with a commitment to publishing technical research and code. The Verge reports: In a press release shared with The Verge, the company suggests that it's building products that help humans work with AI, rather than fully autonomous systems. "We're building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to make AI work for their unique needs and goals," says the press release.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/2235256/mira-murati-is-launching-her-openai-rival-thinking-machines-lab?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: HP will acquire assets from Humane, the maker of a wearable Ai Pin introduced in late 2023, for $116 million. The deal will include the majority of Humane's employees in addition to its software platform and intellectual property, the company said Tuesday. It will not include Humane's Ai pin device business, which will be wound down, an HP spokesperson said. Humane's team, including founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, will form a new division at HP to help integrate artificial intelligence into the company's personal computers, printers and connected conference rooms, said Tuan Tran, who leads HP's AI initiatives. Chaudhri and Bongiorno were design and software engineers at Apple before founding the startup. [...]

Tran said he was particularly impressed with aspects of Humane's design, such as the ability to orchestrate AI models running both on-device and in the cloud. The deal is expected to close at the end of the month, HP said. "There will be a time and place for pure AI devices," Tran said. "But there is going to be AI in all our devices -- that's how we can help our business customers be more productive."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/2245242/hp-to-acquire-parts-of-humane-shut-down-the-ai-pin?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Christoph Hellwig continues to voice strong opposition to Rust in the Linux kernel, arguing that its introduction creates fragmentation, unclear language guidelines, and additional burdens on maintainers. He also says Linus Torvalds has privately stated he will override objections to Rust code, effectively making its adoption inevitable. Phoronix's Michael Larabel has the latest: The latest on Hellwig's perspective of Rust code within the Linux kernel is below. Some interesting insight from a dissenting view. The thread in full can be found on the Rust for Linux mailing list.

[Here's an excerpt from the thread:] "I don't think having a web page in any form is useful. If you want it to be valid it has to be in the kernel tree and widely agreed on. It also states factually incorrect information. E.g. 'Some subsystems may decide they do not want to have Rust code for the time being, typically for bandwidth reasons. This is fine and expected.' while Linus in private said that he absolutely is going to merge Rust code over a maintainers objection. (He did so in private in case you are looking for a reference). So as of now, as a Linux developer or maintainer you must deal with Rust if you want to or not. [...] Right now the rules is Linus can force you whatever he wants (it's his project obviously) and I think he needs to spell that out including the expectations for contributors very clearly."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/227222/linus-torvalds-would-reportedly-merge-rust-kernel-code-over-maintainer-objections?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Protector, an app that lets you book armed goons the same way you'd call for an Uber, is having a viral moment. The app started doing the rounds on social media after consultant Nikita Bier posted about it on X. Protector lets the user book armed guards on demand. Right now it's only available in NYC and LA. According to its marketing, every guard is either "active duty or retired law enforcement and military." Every booking comes with a motorcade and users get to select the number of Escalades that'll be joining them as well as the uniforms their hired goons will wear.

Protector is currently "#7 in Travel" on Apple's App Store. It's not available for people who use Android devices. [...] The marketing for Protector, which lives on its X account, is surreal. A series of robust and barrel-chested men in ill-fitting black suits deliver their credentials to the camera while sitting in front of a black background. They're all operators. They describe careers in SWAT teams and being deployed to war zones. They show vanity shots of themselves kitted out in operator gear. All of them have a red lapel pin bearing the symbol of Protector. If the late UnitedHealthcare CEO had used Protector, he might still be alive today, suggests Protector in its marketing materials. A video on X shows "several fantasy versions of the assassination where a Protector is on hand to prevent the assassin from killing the CEO," reports Gizmodo.

The app is a product from parent company Protector Security Solutions, which was founded by Nick Sarath, a former product designer at Meta.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/2150212/uber-for-armed-guards-rushes-to-market?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan sent an urgent email this month to its more than 1,000 lawyers: Artificial intelligence can invent fake case law, and using made-up information in a court filing could get you fired. A federal judge in Wyoming had just threatened to sanction two lawyers at the firm who included fictitious case citations in a lawsuit against Walmart. One of the lawyers admitted in court filings last week that he used an AI program that "hallucinated" the cases and apologized for what he called an inadvertent mistake.

AI's penchant for generating legal fiction in case filings has led courts around the country to question or discipline lawyers in at least seven cases over the last two years, and created a new high-tech headache for litigants and judges, Reuters found. The Walmart case stands out because it involves a well-known law firm and a big corporate defendant. But examples like it have cropped up in all kinds of lawsuits since chatbots like ChatGPT ushered in the AI era, highlighting a new litigation risk.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/2147200/ai-hallucinations-in-court-papers-spell-trouble-for-lawyers?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Public interest groups on Tuesday asked the full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling that the Federal Communications Commission lacked legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules. From a report: The decision by a three-judge panel blocked the FCC under then President Joe Biden that had sought to reinstate the open internet rules implemented in 2015 but later repealed by the agency under President Donald Trump. The groups -- Free Press, Public Knowledge, Open Technology Institute and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society -- argue the appeals court decision conflicts with an earlier decision by another court.

The groups said the case centers on the FCC's decades-long effort to prevent broadband internet providers "from abusing their gatekeeping power, in furtherance of the providers' economic or political interests, to constrain their users' access to third-party websites."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/205226/groups-ask-us-court-to-reconsider-ruling-blocking-net-neutrality-rules?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Lloyds Banking Group is assessing the skills of thousands of technology staffers in the UK to determine whether they can keep working at the bank once it upgrades its technology [alternative source]. Bloomberg: The British lender, which is carrying out a multiyear overhaul of its systems, put these workers on notice this month that they are at risk of losing their jobs and will be required to reapply for new positions across the bank, according to people familiar with the matter. In a company town hall last week, executives informed those staffers that they were in the process of assessing their technical skills based on a test they took last year to determine where, if anywhere, they can be placed within Lloyds, the people said, asking not to be named discussing non-public information.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1722255/lloyds-is-auditing-thousands-of-it-staffers-technical-skills?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

A new report released by Cisco finds that 97% of CEOs surveyed are planning AI integration. Similarly, 92% of companies recently surveyed by McKinsey plan to invest more in generative AI over the next three years. Fortune: To that end, many companies are seeking tech-savvy finance talent, according to a new report by software company Datarails. The researchers analyzed 6,000 job listings within the CFO's office -- CFO, controller, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), and accountant -- advertised on job search websites including LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, Job2Careers, and ZipRecruiter.

Of the 1,000 job listings for CFOs in January 2025, 27% included AI in the job description. This compares to 8% mentions of AI in 1,000 CFO job listings at the same time last year. Take, for example, Peaks Healthcare Consulting which required a CFO candidate to "continuously learn and integrate AI to improve financial processes and decision making," Datarails notes in the report. Regarding FP&A professionals, in January 2025, 35% of analyst roles mentioned AI competency as a requirement, compared to 14% in January 2024, according to the report.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1718255/27-of-job-listings-for-cfos-now-mention-ai?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has updated its business registry information with key changes to personnel and operational scope, signaling a shift towards monetizing its cost-efficient-yet-powerful large language models. From a report: The Hangzhou-based firm's updated business scope includes "internet information services," according to business registry service Tianyancha. The move is the first sign of DeepSeek's desire to monetise its popular technology, according to Zhang Yi, founder and chief analyst at consultancy iiMedia.

With eyes on developing a business model, DeepSeek intends to shift away from being purely focused on research and development, Zhang added. "The move reflects that for a company like DeepSeek, which managed to accumulate technology and develop a product, monetisation is becoming a necessary next step," Zhang said. DeepSeek's previous business scope said it engages in engineering and AI software development, among others, hinting at a more research-driven approach.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1634218/deepseek-expands-business-scope-in-potential-shift-towards-monetization?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Later this month, Intuitive Machines, the private company behind the first commercial lander that touched down on the moon, will launch a second lunar mission from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The plan is to deploy a lander, a rover, and hopper to explore a site near the lunar south pole that could harbor water ice, and to put a communications satellite on lunar orbit. But the mission will also bring something that's never been installed on the moon or anywhere else in space before -- a fully functional 4G cellular network.

Point-to-point radio communications, which need a clear line of sight between transmitting and receiving antennas, have always been a backbone of both surface communications and the link back to Earth, starting with the Apollo program. Using point-to-point radio in space wasn't much of an issue in the past because there never have been that many points to connect. Usually, it was just a single spacecraft, a lander, or a rover talking to Earth. And they didn't need to send much data either. "They were based on [ultra high frequency] or [very high frequency] technologies connecting a small number of devices with relatively low data throughput," says Thierry Klein, president of Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research, which was contracted by NASA to design a cellular network for the moon back in 2020.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1616239/nokia-is-putting-the-first-cellular-network-on-the-moon?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

SCMP: Chinese scientists have developed a revolutionary repair technology that could make lithium-ion batteries last over six times longer. Announcing their discovery in the journal Nature on Wednesday, the researchers said this low-cost, eco-friendly technology could soon be ready to enter the market.

The batteries are key for many modern technologies, from smartphones to electric vehicles. However, as these batteries age, they often become less efficient -- a process that cold weather accelerates. The researchers said they could counter this problem with the "injection" of a special solution to rejuvenate "sick" batteries. At present, lithium-ion batteries rely on sophisticated materials used to generate lithium ions -- whose movement through electrolyte is key to their performance -- and then protect them to ensure a decent lifespan.

Typically these lithium ions move from the positive terminal to the negative when the battery is charging, a process which is then reversed when it is generating power. The battery is considered to have expired when the supply of lithium ions runs low -- for example some electric car batteries have a lifespan of around 1,500 charge cycles -- but other components in the battery still remain in good working order after this happens. This insight prompted the two lead researchers, Gao Yue and Peng Huisheng from Fudan University's macromolecular science department, to see if they could revive a battery by replenishing the supply of active lithium ions.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/166204/scientists-develop-injection-to-make-smartphone-and-ev-batteries-last-longer?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

A new family of superconductors is exciting physicists. Compounds containing nickel have been shown to carry electricity without resistance at the relatively high temperature of 45 kelvin (-228C) -- and without being squeezed under pressure. Nature: Physicists at the Southern University of Science and Technology (Sustech) in Shenzhen, China, observed the major hallmarks of superconductivity in a thin film of crystals of nickel oxide, which they grew in the laboratory. They published their work in Nature on 17 February. "There's a huge hope that we could eventually raise the critical temperature and make [such materials] more useful for applications," says Dafeng Li, a physicist at the City University of Hong Kong.

Nickelates now join two groups of ceramics -- copper-based cuprates and iron-based pnictides -- as 'unconventional superconductors' that operate at room pressure and temperatures as high as 150K (-123C). This new data point could help physicists to finally explain how high-temperature superconductors work, and ultimately to design materials that operate under ambient conditions. This would make technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging, radically cheaper and more efficient.

How unconventional superconductors operate at warmer temperatures remains largely a mystery, whereas the mechanism behind how some metals can carry electricity without resistance at colder temperatures, or extreme pressures, has been understood since 1957. The ability of the Sustech researchers to precisely engineer the material's properties is huge boon in trying to use nickelates to unravel the theory behind unconventional superconductivity, says Lilia Boeri, a physicist at the Sapienza University of Rome. "The idea that you have a system that you can sort of tune experimentally, is something quite exciting."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1535250/unconventional-nickel-superconductor-excites-physicists?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot. ... [>>>]

Acer will raise laptop prices in the United States by 10% next month due to Trump administration tariffs on Chinese imports, CEO Jason Chen said. "We will have to adjust the end user price to reflect the tariff," Chen said. "We think 10 percent probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax."

The Taiwan-based company, the fifth-largest computer seller in the U.S. market behind HP, Dell, Lenovo and Apple, could add hundreds of dollars to its high-end laptops that cost up to $3,700. Chen said Acer is exploring manufacturing options outside China, including possible U.S. production. The company has already moved desktop computer assembly out of China following earlier 25% tariffs during Trump's first term. The 10% tariff imposed this month affects nearly 80% of U.S. laptop imports from China.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/1451205/acer-to-raise-us-laptop-prices-10-after-tariffs?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

India's Tata Consultancy Services allegedly manipulated U.S. visa programs by falsifying management credentials for foreign workers, according to lawsuits and federal data obtained by Bloomberg News. TCS, India's largest IT services firm, received upwards of 6,500 L-1A visas for managers from October 2019 through September 2023, more than the next seven largest recipients combined. In contrast, TCS categorized fewer than 600 of its 31,000 U.S.-based employees as executives and managers in a 2022 federal report.

Former TCS manager Anil Kini alleged in a lawsuit that in January 2017, a senior manager ordered him to alter organizational charts to hide discrepancies for employees without management responsibilities. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found "credible documentary evidence" that TCS "frequently falsifies documents in support of L-1 visa applications," according to a 2019 letter. L-1A visas for managers, unlike H-1B visas, have no pay requirements or caps.

TCS has denied wrongdoing, saying it "strongly refutes these inaccurate allegations by certain ex-employees, which have previously been dismissed by multiple courts."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/141245/former-staffers-say-indias-biggest-it-firm-was-gaming-the-us-visa-system?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

PAjamian writes: Two years ago Red Hat announced an end to its public source code availability. This caused a great deal of outcry from the Enterprise Linux community at large. Since then many have waited for a statement from the Free Software Foundation concerning their stance on the matter. Now, nearly two years later the FSF has finally responded to questions regarding their stance on the issue with the following statement: Generally, we don't agree with what Red Hat is doing. Whether it constitutes a violation of the GPL would require legal analysis and the FSF does not give legal advice. However, as the stewards of the GNU GPL we can speak how it is intended to be applied and Red Hat's approach is certainly contrary to the spirit of the GPL. This is unfortunate, because we would expect such flagship organizations to drive the movement forward. When asked if the FSF would be willing to intervene on behalf of the community they had this to say:As of today, we are not aware of any issue with Red Hat's new policy that we could pursue on legal grounds. However, if you do find a violation, please follow these instructions and send a report to license-violation@gnu.org. Following is the full text of my original email to them and their response: Subject: Statement about recent changes in source code distribution for Red Hat Enterprise LinuxDate: 2023-07-16 00:39:51 > Hi,>> I'm a user of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Rocky Linux and other Linux> distributions in the RHEL ecosystem. I am also involved in the EL> (Enterprise Linux) community which is being affected by the statements> and changes in policy made by Red Hat at> https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-stream and> https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hats-commitment-open-source-> response-gitcentosorg-changes> (note there are many many more links and posts about this issue which> I> believe you are likely already aware of). While a few of these> questions are answered more directly by the license FAQ some of them> are> not and there are a not insignificant number of people who would very> much appreciate a public statement from the FSF that answers these> questions directly.>> Can you please comment or release a statement about the Free Software> Foundation's position on this issue? Specifically:> Thank you for writing in with your questions. My apologies for the delay, but we are a small team with limited resources and can be challenging keeping up with all the emails we receive. Generally, we don't agree with what Red Hat is doing. Whether it constitutes a violation of the GPL would require legal analysis and the FSF does not give legal advice. However, as the stewards of the GNU GPL we can speak how it is intended to be applied and Red Hat's approach is certainly contrary to the spirit of the GPL. This is unfortunate, because we would expect such flagship organizations to drive the movement forward. > Is Red Hat's removal of sources from git.centos.org a violation of the> GPL and various other Free Software licenses for the various programs> distributed under RHEL?>> Is Red Hat's distribution of source RPMs to their customers under> their> subscriber agreement sufficient to satisfy the above mentioned> licenses?>> Is it a violation if Red Hat terminates a subscription early because> their customer exercised their rights under the GPL and other Free> Software licenses to redistribute the RHEL sources or create> derivative> works from them?>> Is it a violation if Red Hat refuses to renew a subscription that has> expired because a customer exercised their rights to redistribute or> create derivative works?>> A number of the programs distributed with RHEL are copyrighted by the> FSF, some examples being bash, emacs, GNU core utilities, gcc, gnupg> and> glibc. Given that the FSF has standing to act in this matter would> the> FSF be willing to intervene on behalf of the community in order to get> Red Hat to correct any of the above issues?> As of today, we are not aware of any issue with Red Hat's new policy that we could pursue on legal grounds. However, if you do find a violation, please [follow these instructions][0] and send a report to . [0]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-violation.html If you are interested in something more specific on this, the Software Freedom Conservancy [published an article about the RHEL][1] situation and hosted a [panel at their conference in 2023][2]. These cover the situation fairly thoroughly. [1]: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2023/jun/23/rhel-gpl-analysis/[2]: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2023/jul/19/rhel-panel-fossy-2023/ ... [>>>]

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has attributed the current wave of video game industry layoffs and slowdown to companies overextending during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I think it's an overreaction to the COVID situation. Companies invested too much, including ourselves. Then we had to face reality and make adjustments," Yoshida told VentureBeat in an interview.

Yoshida, who left Sony in January after 31 years at PlayStation, suggested the industry's growth would have been more stable without the pandemic-driven surge. "If you take out the COVID years you'd have smoother growth over the years," he said. Yoshida's comments come amid widespread job cuts across the gaming sector, including at Sony, Microsoft, Epic Games, and other major publishers following a post-pandemic decline in gaming engagement.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/0949207/playstation-veteran-blames-gaming-industry-slump-on-pandemic-overexpansion?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

xAI has launched Grok 3, the latest iteration of its large language model, alongside new capabilities for its iOS and web applications. The model has been trained on approximately 200,000 GPUs in a Memphis data center, representing what CEO Elon Musk claims is a tenfold increase in computing power compared to its predecessor.

The new release introduces two specialized variants: Grok 3 Reasoning and Grok 3 mini Reasoning, designed to methodically analyze problems similar to OpenAI's o3-mini and DeepSeek's R1 models. According to xAI's benchmarks, Grok 3 outperforms GPT-4o on several technical evaluations, including AIME for mathematical reasoning and GPQA for PhD-level science problems.

A notable addition is the DeepSearch feature, which combs through web content and X posts to generate research summaries. The platform will be available through X's Premium+ subscription and a new SuperGrok tier ($30/month or $300/year), with the latter offering enhanced reasoning capabilities and unlimited image generation. To prevent knowledge extraction through model distillation -- a technique recently attributed to DeepSeek's alleged copying of OpenAI's models -- xAI has implemented measures to obscure the reasoning models' thought processes in the Grok app. The company plans to release the Grok 2 model as open source once Grok 3 achieves stability.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/0711226/xai-releases-its-latest-flagship-model-grok-3?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

SanDisk aims to produce petabyte-scale SSDs through its new UltraQLC platform, though the company has not specified a release timeline. The technology, it said, combines SanDisk's BICS 8 QLC 3D NAND with a proprietary 64-channel controller featuring hardware accelerators that offload storage functions from firmware to reduce latency and improve reliability.

The initial UltraQLC drives will use 2Tb NAND chips to reach 128TB capacities, with future iterations targeting 256TB, 512TB, and eventually 1PB as higher-density NAND becomes available. The controller dynamically adjusts power based on workload and employs an advanced bus multiplexer to handle increased data loads from high-density QLC stacks, the company said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/047217/sandisk-puts-petabyte-ssds-on-the-roadmap?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

NAND flash prices are expected to slide due to oversupply, forcing memory chipmakers to cut production to match lower-than-expected orders from PC and smartphone manufacturers. From a report: The superabundance of stock is putting a financial strain on suppliers of NAND flash, according to TrendForce, which says growth rate forecasts are being revised down from 30 percent to 10-15 percent for 2025.

"NAND flash manufacturers have adopted more decisive production cuts, scaling back full-year output to curb bit supply growth. These measures are designed to swiftly alleviate market imbalances and lay the groundwork for a price recovery," TrendForce stated.

Shrish Pant, Gartner director analyst and technology product leader, expects NAND flash pricing to remain weak for the first half of 2025, though he projects higher bit shipments for SSDs in the second half due to continuing AI server demand.

"Vendors are currently working tirelessly to discipline supply, which will lead to prices recovering in the second half of 2025. Long term, AI demand will continue to drive the demand for higher-capacity/better-performance SSDs," Pant said. Commenting on the seasonal nature of the memory market, Pant told The Register: "Buying patterns will mean that NAND flash prices will remain cyclical depending on hyperscalers' buying behavior."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/0348230/nand-flash-prices-plunge-amid-supply-glut-factory-output-cut?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Mexico has threatened legal action against Google after the tech company refused to fully restore the name Gulf of Mexico on its mapping service, escalating a dispute sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's move to rename the body of water. Google Maps currently displays the water body as Gulf of America within U.S. territory, Gulf of Mexico within Mexican borders, and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere, according to a letter from Google vice president Cris Turner to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Mexico argues the policy violates its sovereignty since the U.S. controls only 46% of the gulf, while Mexico and Cuba control 49% and 5% respectively. The historic name Gulf of Mexico, dating to 1607, is recognized by the United Nations. The dispute has strained U.S.-Mexico relations, with the White House barring Associated Press reporters from events over the news agency's naming policy.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/0252258/mexico-threatens-to-sue-google-over-gulf-renaming?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

Apps offering lifetime subscriptions may pose risks despite potential cost savings, according to cybersecurity experts and analysts. While some lifetime plans can pay off quickly - like dating app Bumble's $300 premium subscription that breaks even in five months - others require years of use to justify hefty upfront costs. Meditation app Waking Up charges $1,500 for lifetime access, requiring over 11 years of use to recoup the investment.

Security researchers warn against lifetime subscriptions for services with high recurring costs like VPNs and cloud storage. Such providers may compromise user privacy or cut corners on infrastructure to offset losses, said Trevor Hilligoss, senior vice president at cybercrime research group SpyCloud Labs.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/18/0156241/when-a-lifetime-subscription-can-save-you-money---and-when-its-risky?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: JPMorgan Chase Bank (Chase) will soon start blocking Zelle payments to social media contacts to combat a significant rise in online scams utilizing the service for fraud.

Zelle is a highly popular digital payments network that allows users to transfer money quickly and securely between bank accounts. It is also integrated into the mobile apps of many banks in the United States, allowing for almost instant transfers without requiring cash or checks but lacking one crucial feature: purchase protection.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/17/2133224/chase-will-soon-block-zelle-payments-to-sellers-on-social-media?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

White-collar workers are facing their deepest hiring slump in a decade, with one in four U.S. job losses last year hitting professional workers, according to S&P Global. A 2024 Vanguard report shows hiring for employees earning over $96,000 has fallen to its lowest level since 2014. The downturn has been particularly severe for job seekers â" 40% of applicants failed to secure even a single interview in 2024, according to a survey of 2,000 respondents by the American Staffing Association and The Harris Poll.

Technology and high interest rates appear to be driving the decline, with companies reassessing their workforce needs amid AI adoption and economic pressures. While hiring remains steady for those earning under $55,000 annually, the market continues to be especially challenging for mid-career professionals and higher earners.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/02/17/1916201/the-white-collar-recession-is-pummeling-office-workers?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.