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[>] BYD's All-Electric Hypercar Hits 308 MPH, Becomes Fastest Car in Production
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2025-09-27 21:22:01


Electric powertrains allow for "crazy fast acceleration figures," reports Car and Driver, as well as "huge power numbers." And now a Chinese luxury electric car brand owned by BYD Auto "just hit a top speed of 308.4 mph, making it not only the fastest electric car on the planet, but the fastest car. Period."

Engadget reports that the U9 Xtreme "is packed with four motors that produce just under 3,000 horsepower. The electric hypercar also runs on one of the world's first 1,200V platforms, which offers better performance and efficiency, along with some weight reduction." And Car and Driver adds that "Other changes to achieve the speed include dropping the wheel size from 21 to 20 inches, narrowing the front track, and adding wider, semi-slick track tires at the front of the car."

One small caveat that doesn't lessen the impressiveness of the feat is that while the U9 Xtreme does classify as a production model, it barely does. That's because BYD is planning to limit production of the top-speed version of the U9 to no more than 30 units.

The car hit its "facemelting" top speed during a livestream at Germany's Automotive Testing Papenburg, reports Engadget.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader hackingbear for sharing the news.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/0441242/byds-all-electric-hypercar-hits-308-mph-becomes-fastest-car-in-production?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Hugging Face Researchers Warn AI-Generated Video Consumes Much More Power Than Expected
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2025-09-27 22:22:01


"Researchers have found that the carbon footprint of generative AI-based tools that can turn text prompts into images and videos is far worse than we previously thought," writes Futurism:

As detailed in a new paper, researchers from the open-source AI platform Hugging Face found that the energy demands of text-to-video generators quadruple when the length of a generated video doubles — indicating that the power required for increasingly sophisticated generations doesn't scale linearly. For instance, a six-second AI video clip consumes four times as much energy as a three-second clip.

"These findings highlight both the structural inefficiency of current video diffusion pipelines and the urgent need for efficiency-oriented design," the researchers concluded in their paper... Fortunately, there are ways to slim down those demands, including intelligent caching, the reusing of existing AI generations, and "pruning," meaning the sifting out of inefficient examples from training datasets.

The Hugging Face researchers gave their paper a cheeky title. "Video Killed the Energy Budget: Characterizing the Latency and Power Regimes of Open Text-to-Video Mode."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/0249201/hugging-face-researchers-warn-ai-generated-video-consumes-much-more-power-than-expected?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Did Microsoft Hide Key Data Flow Information In Plain Sight?
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2025-09-27 23:22:01


An anonymous reader shared this report from Computer Weekly:

Policing data hosted in Microsoft's hyperscale cloud infrastructure could be processed in more than 100 countries, but the tech giant is obfuscating this information from its customers, Computer Weekly can reveal. According to documents released by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) under freedom of information (FoI) rules, Microsoft refused to hand over crucial information about its international data flows to the SPA and Police Scotland when asked...

The tech giant also refused to disclose its own risk assessments into the transfer of UK policing data to other jurisdictions, including China and others deemed "hostile" in the DPIA documents. This means Police Scotland and the SPA — which are jointly rolling out Office 365 — are unable to satisfy the law enforcement-specific data protection rules laid out in Part Three of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18), which places strict limits on the transfer of policing data outside the UK. The same documents also contain an admission from Microsoft — given while simultaneously refusing to divulge key information about data flows — that it is unable to guarantee the sovereignty of policing data held and processed within its O365 infrastructure. This echoes the statements senior Microsoft representatives made to the French senate in June 2025, in which they admitted the company cannot guarantee the sovereignty of European data stored and processed in its services generally.

The revelation that Microsoft may access customer data from more than 100 countries is a result of the correspondence previously disclosed under Freedom of Information and reported on by Computer Weekly... All in all, an analysis of Microsoft's distributed documentation — conducted by independent security consultant Owen Sayers and shared with Computer Weekly — suggests that Microsoft personnel or contractors can remotely access the data from 105 different countries, using 148 different sub-processors. Despite technically being public, Sayers highlighted how this information is not transparently laid out for Microsoft customers, and is distributed across different documents contained in non-indexed webpages.... "[A]ny normal amount of due diligence — even if it is conducted by skilled persons will likely fail to see the full scope of offshoring in play," he said...

Microsoft did not contest the accuracy of the remote access location figures cited by Computer Weekly in this story.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/1819239/did-microsoft-hide-key-data-flow-information-in-plain-sight?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Bundler's Lead Maintainer Asserts Trademark in Ongoing Struggle with Ruby Central
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2025-09-28 00:22:01


After the nonprofit Ruby Central removed all RubyGems' maintainers from its GitHub repository, André Arko — who helped build Bundler — wrote a new blog post on Thursday "detailing Bundler's relationship with Ruby Central," according to this update from The New Stack.

"In the last few weeks, Ruby Central has suddenly asserted that they alone own Bundler," he wrote. "That simply isn't true. In order to defend the reputation of the team of maintainers who have given so much time and energy to the project, I have registered my existing trademark on the Bundler project."

He adds that trademarks do not affect copyright, which stays with the original contributors unchanged. "Trademarks only impact one thing: Who is allowed say that what they make is named 'Bundler,'" he wrote. "Ruby Central is welcome to the code, just like everyone else. They are not welcome to the project name that the Bundler maintainers have painstakingly created over the last 15 years."

He is, however, not seeking the trademark for himself, noting that the "idea of Bundler belongs to the Ruby community." "Once there is a Ruby organization that is accountable to the maintainers, and accountable to the community, with openly and democratically elected board members, I commit to transfer my trademark to that organization," he said. "I will not license the trademark, and will instead transfer ownership entirely. Bundler should belong to the community, and I want to make sure that is true for as long as Bundler exists."

The blog It's FOSS also has an update on Spinel, the new worker-owned collective founded by Arko, Samuel Giddins [who Giddins led RubyGems security efforts], and Kasper Timm Hansen (who served served on the Rails core team from 2016 to 2022 and was one of its top contributors):

These guys aren't newcomers but some of the architects behind Ruby's foundational infrastructure. Their flagship offering is rv ["the Ruby swiss army knife"], a tool that aims to replace the fragmented Ruby tooling ecosystem. It promises to [in the future] handle everything from rvm, rbenv, chruby, bundler, rubygems, and others — all at once while redefining how Ruby development tools should work... Spinel operates on retainer agreements with companies needing Ruby expertise instead of depending on sponsors who can withdraw support or demand control. This model maintains independence while ensuring sustainability for the maintainers.

The Register had reported Thursday:

Spinel's 'rv' project aims to supplant elements of RubyGems and Bundler with a more modular, version-aware manager. Some in the Ruby community have already accused core Rails figures of positioning Spinel as a threat. For example, Rafael FranÃa of Shopify commented that admins of the new project should not be trusted to avoid "sabotaging rubygems or bundler."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/1910211/bundlers-lead-maintainer-asserts-trademark-in-ongoing-struggle-with-ruby-central?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Escalation in Akira Campaign Targeting SonicWall VPNs, Deploying Ransomware, With Malicious Logins
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2025-09-28 01:22:01


Friday the security researchers at Arctic Wolf Labs wrote:

In late July 2025, Arctic Wolf Labs began observing a surge of intrusions involving suspicious SonicWall SSL VPN activity. Malicious logins were followed within minutes by port scanning, Impacket SMB activity, and rapid deployment of Akira ransomware. Victims spanned across multiple sectors and organization sizes, suggesting opportunistic mass exploitation.

This campaign has recently escalated, with new infrastructure linked to it observed as late as September 20, 2025.

More from Cybersecurity News:

SonicWall has linked these malicious logins to CVE-2024-40766, an improper access control vulnerability disclosed in 2024. The working theory is that threat actors harvested credentials from devices that were previously vulnerable and are now using them in this campaign, even if the devices have since been patched. This explains why fully patched devices have been compromised, a fact that initially led to speculation about a potential zero-day exploit.

Once inside a network, the attackers operate with remarkable speed. The time from initial access to ransomware deployment, known as "dwell time," is often measured in hours, with some intrusions taking as little as 55 minutes, Arctic Wolf said. This extremely short window for response makes early detection critical.

"Threat actors in the present campaign successfully authenticated against accounts with the one-time password (OTP) MFA feature enabled..." notes Artic Wolf Labs:

The threats described in this campaign demand early detection and a rapid response to avoid catastrophic impact to organizations. To facilitate this process, we recommend monitoring for VPN logins originating from untrusted hosting infrastructure. Equally important is ensuring visibility into internal networks, since lateral movement and ransomware encryption can occur within hours or even minutes of initial access. Monitoring for anomalous SMB activity indicative of Impacket use provides an additional early detection opportunity.
When firewalls are confirmed to be running firmware versions vulnerable to credential access or full configuration export, patching alone is not enough. In such situations, credentials must be reset wherever possible, including MFA-related secrets that might otherwise be thought of as secure, and Active Directory credentials with VPN access. These considerations are best practices that apply regardless of which firewall products are in use.
Thanks to Slashdot reader Mirnotoriety for suggesting this story.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/2055246/escalation-in-akira-campaign-targeting-sonicwall-vpns-deploying-ransomware-with-malicious-logins?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Scientists Develop 'Glue Gun' That 3D Prints Bone Grafts Directly Onto Fractures
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2025-09-28 03:22:01


"Researchers have modified a standard glue gun to 3D print a bone-like material directly onto fractures," reports LiveScience, "paving the way for its use in operating rooms."

The device, which has so far been tested in rabbits, would be particularly useful for fixing irregularly shaped fractures during surgery, the researchers say.

"To my knowledge, there are virtually no previous examples of applying the technology directly as a bone substitute," study co-author Jung Seung Lee, a biomedical engineer at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, told Live Science in an email. "This makes the approach quite unique and sets it apart from conventional methods...."

"Further studies in larger animal models are needed before the technology can be used on humans," the article points out.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot for sharing the article.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/2157219/scientists-develop-glue-gun-that-3d-prints-bone-grafts-directly-onto-fractures?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Walmart CEO Issues Wake-Up Call: 'AI Is Going to Change Literally Every Job'
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2025-09-28 03:22:01


It's the world's largest companies by revenue. But Walmart's executives have a blunt message, reports the Wall Street Journal: "Artificial intelligence will wipe out jobs and reshape its workforce."

"It's very clear that AI is going to change literally every job," Chief Executive Doug McMillon said this week in one of the most pointed assessments to date from a big-company CEO on AI's likely impact on employment... "Maybe there's a job in the world that AI won't change, but I haven't thought of it."

Inside Walmart, top executives have started to examine AI's implications for its workforce in nearly every high-level planning meeting. Company leaders say they are tracking which job types decrease, increase and stay steady to gauge where additional training and preparation can help workers. "Our goal is to create the opportunity for everybody to make it to the other side," McMillon said. For now, Walmart executives say the transformation means the size of its global workforce will stay roughly flat even as its revenue climbs. It plans to maintain its head count of around 2.1 million global workers over the next three years, but the mix of those jobs will change significantly, said Donna Morris, Walmart's chief people officer. What the composition will look like remains murky... Already Walmart has built chat bots, which it calls "agents," for customers, suppliers and workers. It is also tracking an expanding share of its supply chain and product trends with AI...

Some changes are already rippling across the workforce. In recent years Walmart has automated many of its warehouses with the help of AI-related technology, triggering some job cuts, executives said. Walmart is also looking to automate some back-of-store tasks. New roles have been established, too. Walmart, for example, created an "agent builder" position last month — an employee who builds AI tools to help merchants. It expects to add people in areas like home delivery or in high-touch customer positions, such as its bakeries. The company has also added more in-store maintenance technicians and truck drivers in recent years.
The article also a comment made by Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley earlier this summer. "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/066218/walmart-ceo-issues-wake-up-call-ai-is-going-to-change-literally-every-job?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] When This EV Company Went Bankrupt, Its Customers Launched a Nonprofit to Keep Their Cars Running
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2025-09-28 06:22:01


Cristian Fleming paid around $70,000 for one of Fisker Ocean's electric mid-size crossover SUVs. Seven months later the company filed for bankruptcy in June of 2024, reports the Verge, "having only delivered 11,000 vehicles."

"Early adopters were left with cars plagued by battery failures, glitchy software, inconsistent key fobs, and door handles that did not always open. With the company gone, there was no way to fix any issues."

Regulators logged dozens of complaints as replacement parts vanished. Passionate owners who spent top dollar on high-end trims saw their cars reduced to expensive driveway ornaments.

Rather than accept defeat, thousands of Ocean owners have organized into their own makeshift car company. The Fisker Owners Association (FOA) is a nonprofit that's launched third-party apps, built a global parts supply chain, and came together around a future for their orphaned vehicles. It's part car club, part tech startup, part survival mission. Fleming now serves as the organization's president... FOA calls itself the first entirely owner-controlled EV fleet in history. So far, 4,055 Ocean owners have signed up, paying $550 a year in dues that the group estimates will raise around $3 million annually, about 0.1 percent of Fisker's peak valuation. Only verified Ocean owners can become full members, but anyone can donate.

The grassroots effort has precedent — DeLorean diehards and Saab enthusiasts have kept their favorite brands alive after factory closures. But those efforts focused on preserving aging vehicles. FOA is attempting something different: real-time software updates and hardware improvements for a connected, two-year-old EV fleet... The organization has spawned three separate companies. Tsunami Automotive handles parts in North America while Tidal Wave covers Europe, scavenging insurance auctions and contracting with tooling manufacturers to reproduce components. UnderCurrent Automotive, run by former Google and Apple engineers, focuses on software solutions.

UnderCurrent's first product is OceanLink Pro, a third-party mobile app now used by over 1,200 members that restores basic EV features, such as remote battery monitoring and climate control. A companion device called OceanLink Pulse adds wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, with plans for future upgrades including keyless entry. "Those are things you would have expected to be in a $70,000 luxury car," says Clint Bagley [FOA's treasurer]. "But, you know, we're happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn't."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/2331230/when-this-ev-company-went-bankrupt-its-customers-launched-a-nonprofit-to-keep-their-cars-running?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Выпуск дистрибутива KaOS 2025.09
lor.opennet
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2025-09-28 08:44:03


Опубликован выпуск KaOS 2025.09, дистрибутива с непрерывной моделью обновления, нацеленного на предоставление рабочего стола на основе свежих выпусков KDE и приложений, использующих Qt. Из специфичных особенностей оформления можно отметить размещение вертикальной панели в правой стороне экрана. Дистрибутив развивается с оглядкой на Arch Linux, но поддерживает собственный независимый репозиторий, насчитывающий более 1500 пакетов, а также предлагает ряд собственных графических утилит. В качестве файловой системы по умолчанию применяется XFS. Сборки публикуются для систем x86_64 (4 ГБ).

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63958

[>] Firefox Will Offer Visual Searching on Images With AI-Powered Google Lens
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2025-09-28 08:22:01


"We've decided to support image-based search," announced the product manager for Firefox Search. Powered by the AI-driven Google Lens search technology, they promise the new feature offers "a frictionless, fast, and a curiosity-sparking way to (as Google puts it) 'search what you see'."

With just a right-click on any image, you'll be able to:
- Find similar products, places, or objects
- Copy, translate, or search text from images
- Get inspiration for learning, travel, or shopping

Look for the new "Search Image with Google Lens" option in your right-click menu (tagged with a NEW badge at first). This is a desktop-only feature, and it will start gradually rolling out worldwide. Note: Google must be set as your default search engine for this feature to appear.
We'll be listening closely to your feedback as we roll it out. Some of the things we're wondering about:

Does the placement in the context menu align with your expectations?
Would you prefer the option to choose your visual search provider?
Where else would you like entry points to visual search (e.g. when you open a new tab, in the address bar, on mobile devices, etc.)

We can't wait to hear your thoughts as the rollout begins!

Some thoughts from WebProNews:

Mozilla emphasizes that this is an opt-in feature, giving users control over activation, which aligns with the company's longstanding commitment to privacy and user agency.

Yet, for industry observers, this partnership with Google raises intriguing questions about competitive dynamics in the browser space, where Firefox has historically positioned itself as an independent alternative to Chrome... This move comes at a time when browsers are increasingly becoming platforms for AI-driven enhancements, as evidenced by recent updates in competitors like Microsoft's Edge, which integrates Copilot AI. Mozilla's decision to leverage Google Lens rather than developing an in-house solution could be seen as a pragmatic step to accelerate feature parity, especially given Firefox's smaller market share. Insiders note that by tapping into established technologies, Mozilla can focus resources on core strengths like privacy protections, potentially attracting users disillusioned with data-heavy ecosystems... While mobile users might feel left out, the phased rollout over the next few weeks allows for feedback loops through community channels, a hallmark of Mozilla's open-source ethos.

Data from similar integrations in other browsers suggests visual search can boost engagement by 15-20%, per industry reports, though Mozilla has not disclosed specific metrics yet... Looking ahead, Mozilla's strategy appears geared toward incremental innovations that bolster user retention without alienating its privacy-focused base. If successful, this could help Firefox claw back some ground against Chrome's dominance, estimated at over 60% market share. For now, the feature's gradual deployment invites ongoing dialogue, underscoring Mozilla's community-driven model in an industry often criticized for top-down decisions.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/0012206/firefox-will-offer-visual-searching-on-images-with-ai-powered-google-lens?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Should Salesforce's Tableau Be Granted a Patent On 'Visualizing Hierarchical Data'?
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2025-09-28 12:22:02


Long-time Slashdot reader theodp says America's Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to Tableau (Salesforce's visual analytics platform) — for a patent covering "Data Processing For Visualizing Hierarchical Data":

"A provided data model may include a tree specification that declares parent-child relationships between objects in the data model. In response to a query associated with objects in the data model: employing the parent-child relationships to determine a tree that includes parent objects and child objects from the objects based on the parent-child relationships; determining a root object based on the query and the tree; traversing the tree from the root object to visit the child objects in the tree; determining partial results based on characteristics of the visited child objects such that the partial results are stored in an intermediate table; and providing a response to the query that includes values based on the intermediate table and the partial results."

A set of 15 simple drawings is provided to support the legal and tech gobbledygook of the invention claims. A person can have a manager, Tableau explains in Figures 5-6 of its accompanying drawings, and that manager can also manage and be managed by other people. Not only that, Tableau illustrates in Figures 7-10 that computers can be used to count how many people report to a manager. How does this magic work, you ask? Well, you "generate [a] tree" [Fig. 13] and "traverse a tree" [Fig. 15], Tableau explains. But wait, there's more — you can also display the people who report to a manager in multi-level or nested pie charts (aka Sunburst charts), Tableau demonstrates in Fig. 11.

Interestingly, Tableau released a "pre-Beta" Sunburst chart type in late April 2023 but yanked it at the end of June 2023 (others have long-supported Sunburst charts, including Plotly). So, do you think Tableau should be awarded a patent in 2025 on a concept that has roots in circa-1921 Sunburst charts and tree algorithms taught to first-year CS students in circa-1975 Data Structures courses?

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/044220/should-salesforces-tableau-be-granted-a-patent-on-visualizing-hierarchical-data?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] PyPI, Сrates.io, Packagist и Maven подняли вопрос финансирования для сохранения устойчивости инфраструктуры
lor.opennet
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2025-09-28 12:44:03


Организация OpenSSF (Open Source Security Foundation), созданная для объединения работы представителей индустрии в области повышения безопасности открытого ПО, опубликовала открытое письмо, которое подписали разработчики репозиториев PyPI, crates.io, Packagist, Open VSX и Maven Central. В письме упомянуты проблемы с сохранением устойчивости инфраструктуры при нынешних моделях финансирования и использования репозиториев. Последнее время нагрузка на репозитории увеличивается экспоненциально, но рост финансирования работы по сопровождению в лучшем случае имеет линейный характер. Отмечается, что ситуация с финансированием пока не достигла кризиса, но статус‑кво больше не может сохранятся и наступил критический переломный момент, требующий изменений.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63959

[>] Mistral's New Plan for Improving Its AI Models: Training Data from Enterprises
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2025-09-28 16:22:01


Paris-based AI giant Mistral "is pushing to improve its models," reports the Wall Street Journal, "by looking inside legacy enterprises that hold some of the world's last untapped data reserves...."

Mistral's approach will be to form partnerships with enterprises to further train existing models on their own proprietary data, a phenomenon known as post-training... [At Dutch chip-equipment company ASML], Mistral embeds its own solutions architects, applied AI engineers and applied scientists into the enterprise to work on improving models with the company's data. [While Mistral sells some models under a commercial license], this co-creation strategy allows Mistral to make money off the services side of its business and afford to give away its open source AI free of charge, while improving model performance for the customer with more industry context...

This kind of hand-holding approach is necessary for most companies to tackle AI successfully, said Arthur Mensch [co-founder and chief executive of Mistral]. "The very high-tech companies [and] a couple of banks are able to do it on their own. But when it comes to getting some [return on investment] from use cases, in general, they fail," he said. Mensch attributes that in part to a mismatch between expectations and reality. "The curse of AI is that it looks like magic. So you can very quickly make something that looks amazing to your boss," but it doesn't scale or work more broadly, he said. In other cases, enterprises simply might not know what to focus on. For example, it is a mistake to think equipping all employees with a chatbot will create meaningful gains on the bottom line, he said. Mensch said to fully take advantage of AI, companies will have to rethink organizational structures. With information flowing more easily, they could require fewer middle managers, for example.

There is a lot of work yet to do, Mensch said, but in a large sense, the future of AI development now lies inside the enterprise itself. "This is a pattern that we've seen with many of our customers: At some point, the capabilities of the frontier model can only be increased if we partner," he said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/1640203/mistrals-new-plan-for-improving-its-ai-models-training-data-from-enterprises?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Выпуск Coreboot 25.09, открытой альтернативы проприетарным прошивкам
lor.opennet
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-28 18:44:03


Опубликован выпуск проекта CoreBoot 25.09, разрабатывающего свободную альтернативу проприетарным прошивкам и BIOS. Код проекта распространяется под лицензией GPLv2. В состав новой версии включено 684 изменения, подготовленных при участии 110 разработчиков.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63961

[>] California Now Has 68% More EV Chargers Than Gas Nozzles, Continues Green Energy Push
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2025-09-28 19:22:01


Six months ago California had 48% more public and "shared" private EV chargers than gasoline nozzles. (In March California had 178,000 public and shared private EV chargers, versus about 120,000 gas nozzles.)

Since then they've added 23,000 more public/shared charging ports — and announced this week that there's now 68% more EV charger ports than the number of gasoline nozzles statewide. "Thanks to the state's ever-expanding charger network, 94% of Californians live within 10 minutes of an EV charger," according to the announcement from the state's energy policy agency. And the California Energy Commission staff told CleanTechnica they expect more chargers in the future. "We are watching increased private investment by consortiums like IONNA and OEMs like Rivian, Ford, and others that are actively installing EV charging stations throughout the state."

Clean Technica notes in 2019, the state had roughly 42,000 charging ports and now there are a little over 200,000. (And today there's about 800,000 home EV chargers.)

This week California announced another milestone: that in 2024 nearly 23% of all the state's new truck sales — that's trucks, buses, and vans — were zero-emission vehicles. (The state subsidizes electric trucks — $200 million was requested on the program's first day.)
Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 — even as the state's GDP increased 78% in that same time period all while becoming the world's fourth largest economy.
The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023, the latest year for which data is available — the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year.
"Last year, California ran on 100% clean electricity for the equivalent of 51 days," notes another announcement, which points out California has 15,763 MW of battery storage capacity — roughly a third of the amount projected to be needed by 2045.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/0553221/california-now-has-68-more-ev-chargers-than-gas-nozzles-continues-green-energy-push?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Million-Year-Old Skull Rewrites Human Evolution, Scientists Claim
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2025-09-28 20:22:01


The BBC reports that a million-year-old human skull found in China suggests that the human species "began to emerge at least half a million years earlier than we thought, researchers are claiming in a new study."

It also shows that we co-existed with other sister species, including Neanderthals, for much longer than we've come to believe, they say.

The scientists claim their analysis "totally changes" our understanding of human evolution and, if correct, it would certainly rewrite a key early chapter in our history. But other experts in a field where disagreement over our emergence on the planet is rife, say that the new study's conclusions are plausible but far from certain.

The discovery, published in the leading scientific journal Science, shocked the research team, which included scientists from a university in China and the UK's Natural History Museum. "From the very beginning, when we got the result, we thought it was unbelievable. How could that be so deep into the past?" said Prof Xijun Ni of Fudan University, who co-led the analysis. "But we tested it again and again to test all the models, use all the methods, and we are now confident about the result, and we're actually very excited."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the article.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/2250232/million-year-old-skull-rewrites-human-evolution-scientists-claim?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Вышла сборка GCC 15.2.0 для Symbian
lor.opennet
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-28 20:44:04


В комплекте идут Binutils 2.29.1 и GDB 10.2. Для желающих собрать самим – использовать скрипты в архиве GCC4Symbian.zip(проверено на Devuan). Для Windows выложена готовая сборка.

Качать на [ sourceforge ]( https://sourceforge.net/projects/gcce4symbian/files/GCC-15.2.0_BINUTILS-2.29.1/ ) .

https://www.linux.org.ru/news/development/18094347

[>] Researchers (Including Google) are Betting on Virtual 'World Models' for Better AI
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-28 21:22:02


"Today's AIs are book smart," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Everything they know they learned from available language, images and videos. To evolve further, they have to get street smart."
And that requires "world models," which are "gaining momentum in frontier research and could allow technology to take on new roles in our lives."
The key is enabling AI to learn from their environments and faithfully represent an abstract version of them in their "heads," the way humans and animals do. To do it, developers need to train AIs by using simulations of the world. Think of it like learning to drive by playing "Gran Turismo" or learning to fly from "Microsoft Flight Simulator." These world models include all the things required to plan, take actions and make predictions about the future, including physics and time... There's an almost unanimous belief among AI pioneers that world models are crucial to creating next-generation AI. And many say they will be critical to someday creating better-than-human "artificial general intelligence," or AGI. Stanford University professor and AI "godmother" Fei-Fei Li has raised $230 million to launch world-model startup World Labs...

Google DeepMind researchers set out to create a system that could generate real-world simulations with an unprecedented level of fidelity. The result, Genie 3 — which is still in research preview and not publicly available — can generate photo-realistic, open-world virtual landscapes from nothing more than a text prompt. You can think of Genie 3 as a way to quickly generate what's essentially an open-world videogame that can be as faithful to the real world as you like. It's a virtual space in which a baby AI can endlessly play, make mistakes and learn what it needs to do to achieve its goals, just as a baby animal or human does in the real world. That experimentation process is called reinforcement learning. Genie 3 is part of a system that could help train the AI that someday pilots robots, self-driving cars and other "embodied" AIs, says project co-lead Jack Parker-Holder. And the environments could be filled with people and obstacles: An AI could learn how to interact with humans by observing them moving around in that virtual space, he adds.

"It isn't clear whether all these bets will lead to the superintelligence that corporate leaders predict," the article concedes.

"But in the short term, world models could make AIs better at tasks at which they currently falter, especially in spatial reasoning."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/27/0632215/researchers-including-google-are-betting-on-virtual-world-models-for-better-ai?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Will AI Mean Bring an End to Top Programming Language Rankings?
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-28 23:22:01


IEEE Spectrum ranks the popularity of programming languages — but is there a problem? Programmers "are turning away from many of these public expressions of interest. Rather than page through a book or search a website like Stack Exchange for answers to their questions, they'll chat with an LLM like Claude or ChatGPT in a private conversation."

And with an AI assistant like Cursor helping to write code, the need to pose questions in the first place is significantly decreased. For example, across the total set of languages evaluated in the Top Programming Languages, the number of questions we saw posted per week on Stack Exchange in 2025 was just 22% of what it was in 2024...

However, an even more fundamental problem is looming in the wings... In the same way most developers today don't pay much attention to the instruction sets and other hardware idiosyncrasies of the CPUs that their code runs on, which language a program is vibe coded in ultimately becomes a minor detail... [T]he popularity of different computer languages could become as obscure a topic as the relative popularity of railway track gauges... But if an AI is soothing our irritations with today's languages, will any new ones ever reach the kind of critical mass needed to make an impact? Will the popularity of today's languages remain frozen in time?

That's ultimately the larger question. "how much abstraction and anti-foot-shooting structure will a sufficiently-advanced coding AI really need...?"

[C]ould we get our AIs to go straight from prompt to an intermediate language that could be fed into the interpreter or compiler of our choice? Do we need high-level languages at all in that future? True, this would turn programs into inscrutable black boxes, but they could still be divided into modular testable units for sanity and quality checks. And instead of trying to read or maintain source code, programmers would just tweak their prompts and generate software afresh.

What's the role of the programmer in a future without source code? Architecture design and algorithm selection would remain vital skills... How should a piece of software be interfaced with a larger system? How should new hardware be exploited? In this scenario, computer science degrees, with their emphasis on fundamentals over the details of programming languages, rise in value over coding boot camps.

Will there be a Top Programming Language in 2026? Right now, programming is going through the biggest transformation since compilers broke onto the scene in the early 1950s. Even if the predictions that much of AI is a bubble about to burst come true, the thing about tech bubbles is that there's always some residual technology that survives. It's likely that using LLMs to write and assist with code is something that's going to stick. So we're going to be spending the next 12 months figuring out what popularity means in this new age, and what metrics might be useful to measure.
Having said that, IEEE Spectrum still ranks programming language popularity three ways — based on use among working programmers, demand from employers, and "trending" in the zeitgeist — using seven different metrics.

Their results? Among programmers, "we see that once again Python has the top spot, with the biggest change in the top five being JavaScript's drop from third place last year to sixth place this year. As JavaScript is often used to create web pages, and vibe coding is often used to create websites, this drop in the apparent popularity may be due to the effects of AI... In the 'Jobs' ranking, which looks exclusively at what skills employers are looking for, we see that Python has also taken 1st place, up from second place last year, though SQL expertise remains an incredibly valuable skill to have on your resume."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/1823244/will-ai-mean-bring-an-end-to-top-programming-language-rankings?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Facebook and Instagram Offer UK Users an Ad-Stopping Subscription Fee
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 00:22:02


"Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is launching paid subscriptions for users who do not want to see adverts in the UK," reports the BBC:

The company said it would start notifying users in the coming weeks to let them choose whether to subscribe to its platforms if they wish to use them without seeing ads. EU users of its platforms can already pay a fee starting from €5.99 (£5) a month to see no ads — but subscriptions will start from £2.99 a month for UK users.

"It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms," Meta said. But UK users will not have an option to not pay and see "less personalised" adverts — a feature Meta added for EU users after regulators raised concerns...

Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps — with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google... [Meta] reiterated its critical stance on the EU on Friday, saying its regulations were creating a worse experience for users and businesses unlike the UK's "more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment".

"Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps," according to the BBC, "with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google."

Even users not paying for an ad-free experience have "tools and settings that empower people to control their ads experience," according to Meta's announcement. The include Ad Preferences which influences data used to inform ads including Activity Information from Ad Partners. "We also have tools in our products that explain 'Why am I seeing this ad?' and how people can manage their ad experience. We do not sell personal data to advertisers."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/1934254/facebook-and-instagram-offer-uk-users-an-ad-stopping-subscription-fee?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Tim Berners-Lee Urges New Open-Source Interoperable Data Standard, Protections from AI
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 01:22:01


Tim Berners-Lee writes in a new article in the Guardian that "Somewhere between my original vision for web 1.0 and the rise of social media as part of web 2.0, we took the wrong path

Today, I look at my invention and I am forced to ask: is the web still free today? No, not all of it. We see a handful of large platforms harvesting users' private data to share with commercial brokers or even repressive governments. We see ubiquitous algorithms that are addictive by design and damaging to our teenagers' mental health. Trading personal data for use certainly does not fit with my vision for a free web. On many platforms, we are no longer the customers, but instead have become the product. Our data, even if anonymised, is sold on to actors we never intended it to reach, who can then target us with content and advertising...

We have the technical capability to give that power back to the individual. Solid is an open-source interoperable standard that I and my team developed at MIT more than a decade ago. Apps running on Solid don't implicitly own your data — they have to request it from you and you choose whether to agree, or not. Rather than being in countless separate places on the internet in the hands of whomever it had been resold to, your data is in one place, controlled by you. Sharing your information in a smart way can also liberate it. Why is your smartwatch writing your biological data to one silo in one format? Why is your credit card writing your financial data to a second silo in a different format? Why are your YouTube comments, Reddit posts, Facebook updates and tweets all stored in different places? Why is the default expectation that you aren't supposed to be able to look at any of this stuff? You generate all this data — your actions, your choices, your body, your preferences, your decisions. You should own it. You should be empowered by it...

We're now at a new crossroads, one where we must decide if AI will be used for the betterment or to the detriment of society. How can we learn from the mistakes of the past? First of all, we must ensure policymakers do not end up playing the same decade-long game of catchup they have done over social media. The time to decide the governance model for AI was yesterday, so we must act with urgency. In 2017, I wrote a thought experiment about an AI that works for you. I called it Charlie. Charlie works for you like your doctor or your lawyer, bound by law, regulation and codes of conduct. Why can't the same frameworks be adopted for AI? We have learned from social media that power rests with the monopolies who control and harvest personal data. We can't let the same thing happen with AI.
Berners-Lee also says "we need a Cern-like not-for-profit body driving forward international AI research," arguing that if we muster the political willpower, "we have the chance to restore the web as a tool for collaboration, creativity and compassion across cultural borders.

"We can re-empower individuals, and take the web back. It's not too late."

Berners-Lee has also written a new book titled This is For Everyone.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/1958242/tim-berners-lee-urges-new-open-source-interoperable-data-standard-protections-from-ai?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Switzerland Approves Digital ID In Narrow Vote, UK Proposes One Too
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 03:22:02


"Swiss voters have backed plans for electronic identity cards by a wafer-thin margin," reports the Guardian, "in the second nationwide vote on the issue."
In a referendum on Sunday, 50.4% of voters supported an electronic ID card, while 49.6% were against, confounding pollsters who had forecast stronger support for the "yes" vote. Turnout was 49.55%, higher than expected... [V]oters rejected an earlier version of the e-ID in 2021, largely over objections to the role of private companies in the system. In response to these concerns, the Swiss state will now provide the e-ID, which will be optional and free of charge... To ensure security the e-ID is linked to a single smartphone, users will have to get a new e-ID if they change their device... An ID card containing biometric data — fingerprints — will be available from the end of next year.

Critics of the e-ID scheme raised data protection concerns and said it opened the door to mass surveillance. They also fear the voluntary scheme will become mandatory and disadvantage people without smartphones. The referendum was called after a coalition of rightwing and data-privacy parties collected more than 50,000 signatures against e-ID cards, triggering the vote.

"To further ease privacy concerns, a particular authority seeking information on a person — such as proof of age or nationality, for example — will only be able to check for those specific details," notes the BBC:

Supporters of the Swiss system say it will make life much easier for everyone, allowing a range of bureaucratic procedures — from getting a telephone contract to proving you are old enough to buy a bottle of wine — to happen quickly online. Opponents of digital ID cards, who gathered enough signatures to force another referendum on the issue, argue that the measure could still undermine individual privacy. They also fear that, despite the new restrictions on how data is collected and stored, it could still be used to track people and for marketing purposes.
The BBC adds that the UK government also announced plans earlier this week to introduce its own digital ID, "which would be mandatory for employment. The proposed British digital ID would have fewer intended uses than the Swiss version, but has still raised concerns about privacy and data security."

The Guardian reports:
The referendum came soon after the UK government announced plans for a digital ID card, which would sit in the digital wallets of smartphones, using state-of-the-art encryption. More than 1.6 million people have signed a petition opposing e-ID cards, which would be mandatory for people working in the UK by 2029.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/2156240/switzerland-approves-digital-id-in-narrow-vote-uk-proposes-one-too?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Wall Street Journal Decries 'The Rise of Conspiracy Physics'
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 04:22:01


tThe internet is full of people claiming to uncover conspiracies in politics and business..." reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Now an unlikely new villain has been added to the list: theoretical physicists," they write, saygin resentment of scientific authority figures "is the major attraction of what might be called 'conspiracy physics'."

In recent years, a group of YouTubers and podcasters have attracted millions of viewers by proclaiming that physics is in crisis. The field, they argue, has discovered little of importance in the last 50 years, because it is dominated by groupthink and silences anyone who dares to dissent from mainstream ideas, like string theory... Most fringe theories are too arcane for listeners to understand, but anyone can grasp the idea that academic physics is just one more corrupt and self-serving establishment... In this corner of the internet, the scientist Scott Aaronson has written, "Anyone perceived as the 'mainstream establishment' faces a near-insurmountable burden of proof, while anyone perceived as 'renegade' wins by default if they identify any hole whatsoever in mainstream understanding...

As with other kinds of authorities, there are reasonable criticisms to be made of academic physics. By some metrics, scientific productivity has slowed since the 1970s. String theory has not fulfilled physicists' early dreams that it would become the ultimate explanation of all forces and matter in our universe. The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, has delivered fewer breakthroughs than scientists expected when it turned on in 2010. But even reasonable points become hard to recognize when expressed in the ways YouTube incentivizes. Conspiracy physics videos with titles like "They Just Keep Lying" are full of sour sarcasm, outraged facial expressions and spooky music...

Leonard Susskind, director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, says physicists need to be both more sober and more forceful when addressing the public. The limits of string theory should be acknowledged, he says, but the idea that progress has slowed isn't right. In the last few decades, he and other physicists have figured out how to make progress on the vast project of integrating general relativity and quantum mechanics, the century-old pillars of physics, into a single explanation of the universe.

The bitter attacks on leading physicists get a succinct summary in the article from Chris Williamson, a "Love Island" contestant turned podcast host. "This is like 'The Kardashians' for physicists — I love it."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/28/2356244/wall-street-journal-decries-the-rise-of-conspiracy-physics?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] GNU libunistring 1.4
lor.opennet
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 05:44:03


Состоялся релиз [ GNU libunistring ]( https://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/ ) 1.4 — библиотеки, которая позволяет работать с Unicode-строками в программах на C, а также со строками C в соответствии со стандартом Unicode.

Изменения в этом выпуске:

• Алгоритмы и таблицы с данными обновлены до стандарта Unicode 15.

• Исправлены проблемы с работой функций u*_grapheme_next и u*_grapheme_prev для символов Indic, Emoji и индикаторов региона.

Проект поддерживает UTF-8, UTF-16 и UTF-32. Распространяется на условиях LGPL 2.1.

https://www.linux.org.ru/news/gnu/18094577

[>] Culture Magazine Urges Professional Writers to Resist AI, Boycott and Stigmatize AI Slop
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 07:22:02


The editors of the culture magazine n + 1 decry the "well-funded upheaval" caused by a large and powerful coalition of pro-AI forces. ("According to the logic of market share as social transformation, if you move fast and break enough things, nothing can contain you...")
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

The AI bubbleâS — âSand it is a bubble, as even OpenAI overlord Sam Altman has admittedâS — âSwill burst. The technology's dizzying pace of improvement, already slowing with the release of GPT-5, will stall... [P]rofessional readers and writers: We retain some power over the terms and norms of our own intellectual life. We ought to stop acting like impotence in some realms means impotence everywhere. Major terrains remain AI-proofable. For publishers, editors, critics, professors, teachers, anyone with any say over what people read, the first step will be to develop an ear. Learn to tellâS — âSto read closely enough to tellâS — âSthe work of people from the work of bots...

Whatever nuance is needed for its interception, resisting AI's further creep into intellectual labor will also require blunt-force militancy. The steps are simple. Don't publish AI bullshit. Don't even publish mealymouthed essays about the temptation to produce AI bullshit. Resist the call to establish worthless partnerships like the Washington Post's Ember, an "AI writing coach" designed to churn out Bezos-friendly op-eds. Instead, do what better magazines, newspapers, and journals have managed for centuries. Promote and produce original work of value, work that's cliché-resistant and unreplicable, work that triesâS — âSas Thomas Pynchon wrote in an oracular 1984 essay titled "Is It OK to Be a Luddite?"âS — âS"through literary means which are nocturnal and deal in disguise, to deny the machine...."

Punishing already overdisciplined and oversurveilled students for their AI use will help no one, but it's a long way from accepting that reality to Ohio State's new plan to mandate something called "AI fluency" for all graduates by 2029 (including workshops sponsored, naturally, by Google). Pedagogically, alternatives to acquiescence remain available. Some are old, like blue-book exams, in-class writing, or one-on-one tutoring. Some are new, like developing curricula to teach the limits and flaws of generative AI while nurturing human intelligence...

Our final defenses are more diffuse, working at a level of norms and attitudes. Stigmatization is a powerful force, and disgust and shame are among our greatest tools. Put plainly, you should feel bad for using AI. (The broad embrace of the term slop is a heartening sign of a nascent constituency for machine denial.) These systems haven't worked well for very long, and consensus about their use remains far from settled. That's why so much writing about AI writing sounds the way it doesâS — âSnervous, uneven, ambivalent about the new regime's utilityâS — âSand it means there's still time to disenchant AI, provincialize it, make it uncompelling and uncool...

As we train our sights on what we oppose, let's recall the costs of surrender. When we use generative AI, we consent to the appropriation of our intellectual property by data scrapers. We stuff the pockets of oligarchs with even more money. We abet the acceleration of a social media gyre that everyone admits is making life worse. We accept the further degradation of an already degraded educational system. We agree that we would rather deplete our natural resources than make our own art or think our own thoughts... A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a "stereotype"âS — âSa simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fakeâS — âSof real literature. It should be smashed, and can.
The 3,800-word article also argues that "perhaps AI's ascent in knowledge-industry workplaces will give rise to new demands and new reasons to organize..."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/0129218/culture-magazine-urges-professional-writers-to-resist-ai-boycott-and-stigmatize-ai-slop?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Some Athletes are Trying the Psychedelic Ibogaine to Treat Brain Injuries
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 07:22:02


"As awareness grows around the dangers of head trauma in sports, a small number of professional fighters and football players are turning to a psychedelic called ibogaine for treatment," reports the Los Angeles Times.

They note that the drug's proponents "tout its ability to treat addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, or TBI. "

Ibogaine, which is derived from a West African shrub, is a Schedule 1 drug in America with no legal medical uses, and experts urge caution because of the need for further studies. But the results, several athletes say, are "game-changing".... Although athletes are just discovering ibogaine, the drug is well known within the veteran community, which experiences high rates of brain injury and PTSD. In Stanford's study on the effects of ibogaine on special forces veterans, participants saw average reductions of 88% in PTSD symptoms, 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms. They also exhibited improvements in concentration, information processing and memory.

"No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury," Dr. Nolan Williams, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a statement on the results. "The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further...."

States can work faster than the federal government by carving out exemptions for supervised ibogaine therapy programs, similar to what Oregon has done with psilocybin therapy. Many states have also opted to legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational use... In June, Texas approved a historic $50-million investment in state funding to support drug development trials for ibogaine, inspired by the results seen by veterans. Arizona legislators approved $5 million in state funding for a clinical study on ibogaine in March, and California legislators are pushing to fast-track the study of ibogaine and other psychedelics.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/033214/some-athletes-are-trying-the-psychedelic-ibogaine-to-treat-brain-injuries?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] AI-Powered Stan Lee Hologram Debuts at LA Comic Con
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 09:22:01


An anonymous reader shared this report from Ars Technica:

Late last week, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story about an "AI Stan Lee hologram" that would be appearing at the LA Comic Con this weekend. [Watch it in action here.] Nearly seven years after the famous Marvel Comics creator's death at the age of 95, fans will be able to pay $15 to $20 this weekend to chat with a life-sized, AI-powered avatar of Lee in an enclosed booth at the show. The instant response from many fans and media outlets to the idea was not kind, to say the least. A writer for TheGamer called the very idea "demonic" and said we need to "kill it with fire before it's too late...."

But Chris DeMoulin, the CEO of the parent company behind LA Comic Con, urged critics to come see the AI-powered hologram for themselves before rushing to judgment. "We're not afraid of people seeing it and we're not afraid of criticism," he told Ars. "I'm just a fan of informed criticism, and I think most of what's been out there so far has not really been informed...." [DeMoulin said he saw] "the leaps and bounds that they were making in improving the technology, improving the interactivity." Now, he said, it's possible to create an AI-powered version that ingests "all of the actual comments that people made during their life" to craft an interactive hologram that "is not literally quoting the person, but everything it was saying was based on things that person actually said...." [Hyperreal CEO and Chief Architect Remington Scott] said Hyperreal "can't share specific technical details" of the models or training techniques they use to power these recreations. But Scott added that this training project is "particularly meaningful, [because] Stan Lee had actually begun digitizing himself while he was alive, with the vision of creating a digital double so his fans could interact with him on a larger scale...."

Still, DeMoulin said he understands why the idea of using even a stylized version of Lee's likeness in this manner could rub some fans the wrong way. "When a new technology comes out, it just feels wrong to them, and I respect the fact that this feels wrong to people," he said. "I totally agree that something like this-not just for Stan but for anyone, any celebrity alive or dead-could be put into this technology and used in a way that would be exploitative and unfortunate." That's why DeMoulin said he and the others behind the AI-powered Lee feel a responsibility "to make sure that if we were going to do this, we never got anywhere close to that."
The "premium, authenticated digital identities" created by Hyperreal's system are "not replacing artists," says Hyperreal CEO/Chief Architect Remington Scott, but "creating respectful digital extensions that honor their legacy."

Still, DeMoulin says in the article that "I suppose if we do it and thousands of fans interact with [it] and they don't like it, we'll stop doing it."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/041251/ai-powered-stan-lee-hologram-debuts-at-la-comic-con?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Ladybird Browser Gains Cloudflare Support to Challenge the Status Quo
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 12:22:10


An anonymous reader shared this report from the blog Linuxiac:

In a somewhat unexpected move, Cloudflare has announced its sponsorship of the Ladybird browser, an independent (still-in-development) open-source initiative aimed at developing a modern, standalone web browser engine.
It's a project launched by GitHub's co-founder and former CEO, Chris Wanstrath, and tech visionary Andreas Kling. It's written in C++, and designed to be fast, standards-compliant, and free of external dependencies. Its main selling point? Unlike most alternative browsers today, Ladybird doesn't sit on top of Chromium or WebKit. Instead, it's building a completely new rendering engine from scratch, which is a rare thing in today's web landscape. For reference, the vast majority of web traffic currently runs through engines developed by either Google (Blink/Chromium), Apple (WebKit), or Mozilla (Gecko).

The sponsorship means the Ladybird team will have more resources to accelerate development. This includes paying developers to work on crucial features, such as JavaScript support, rendering improvements, and compatibility with modern web applications. Cloudflare stated that its support is part of a broader initiative to keep the web open, where competition and multiple implementations can drive enhanced security, performance, and innovation.
The article adds that Cloudflare also chose to sponsor Omarchy, a tool that runs on Arch and sets up and configures a Hyprland tiling window manager, along with a curated set of defaults and developer tools including Neovim, Docker, and Git.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/0446226/ladybird-browser-gains-cloudflare-support-to-challenge-the-status-quo?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Релиз ядра Linux 6.17
lor.opennet
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 12:44:02


После двух месяцев разработки Линус Торвальдс представил релиз ядра Linux 6.17. Среди наиболее заметных изменений: повышение производительности Btrfs, системные вызовы file_getattr() и file_setattr(), унификация однопроцессорных и многопроцессорных конфигураций в планировщике задач, модуль DAMON_STAT со статистикой доступа к памяти, поддержка Live-патчей на системах ARM64, отправка core-дампов через сокет AF_UNIX, лимитирование SCHED_EXT через cgroup, упрощённая настройка защиты от уязвимостей в CPU, сборка в Clang с инициализацией переменных в стеке, защита от подмены /proc, расширение подсистемы RV (Runtime Verification), ограничение сокетов AF_UNIX через AppArmor, алгоритм контроля перегрузок TCP DualPI2.

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63957

[>] Выпуск дистрибутива BSD Router Project 2.0
lor.opennet
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 14:44:03


Оливье Кочар-Лаббе (Olivier Cochard-Labbé), создатель дистрибутива FreeNAS, представил выпуск специализированного дистрибутива BSD Router Project 2.0 (BSDRP), примечательный обновлением кодовой базы до находящейся в разработке ветки FreeBSD 16. Дистрибутив предназначен для создания компактных программных маршрутизаторов, поддерживающих протоколы маршрутизации RIP, OSPF, BGP и PIM. Управление производится в режиме командной строки через CLI-интерфейс, напоминающий интерфейс Cisco IOS. Дистрибутив доступен в сборках для архитектур x86_64 и ARM64 (размер сжатых установочных образов ~340 МБ).

https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=63963

[>] Professor Warns CS Graduates are Struggling to Find Jobs
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 16:22:01


"Computer science went from a future-proof career to an industry in upheaval in a shockingly small amount of time," writes Business Insider, citing remarks from UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid said during a recent episode of Nova's "Particles of Thought" podcast.
"Our students typically had five internship offers throughout their first four years of college," Farid said. "They would graduate with exceedingly high salaries, multiple offers. They had the run of the place. That is not happening today. They're happy to get one job offer...."

It's too easy to just blame AI, though, Farid said. "Something is happening in the industry," he said. "I think it's a confluence of many things. I think AI is part of it. I think there's a thinning of the ranks that's happening, that's part of it, but something is brewing..."

Farid, one of the world's experts on deepfake videos, said he is often asked for advice. He said what he tells students has changed... "Now, I think I'm telling people to be good at a lot of different things because we don't know what the future holds."
Like many in the AI space, Farid said that those who use breakthrough technologies will outlast those who don't. "I don't think AI is going to put lawyers out of business, but I think lawyers who use AI will put those who don't use AI out of business," he said. "And I think you can say that about every profession."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/029201/professor-warns-cs-graduates-are-struggling-to-find-jobs?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Saudi Takeover of EA in $55 Billion Deal Raises Serious Concerns
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 18:22:01


BrianFagioli writes: Electronic Arts has agreed to a $55 billion buyout by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, marking the largest all-cash sponsor take-private deal ever. Shareholders will receive $210 per share, a 25 percent premium over EA's unaffected price, and once the transaction closes the company will be delisted from public markets. EA CEO Andrew Wilson will remain in charge, with the group arguing that private ownership will allow the publisher to innovate faster and expand its global footprint.

The deal, however, is already sparking controversy. PIF, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Saudi government, will effectively gain control of one of the most influential names in gaming. While investors stand to profit, many gamers and industry watchers are concerned about how Saudi ownership could shape EA's creative direction, monetization strategies, and role in esports. With regulatory approvals still pending, the takeover raises difficult questions about the intersection of gaming, politics, and global soft power.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/134259/saudi-takeover-of-ea-in-55-billion-deal-raises-serious-concerns?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] 'No Driver, No Hands, No Clue': Waymo Pulled Over For Illegal U-turn
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 19:22:01


What's the proper punishment for an illegal U-turn? If you're a human being in California, it's a fine of up to $234. If you're a robot, apparently, it's nothing at all. The San Francisco Standard: This injustice became apparent to many Facebook users Saturday night after a viral post from the San Bruno Police Department showed footage of officers pulling over a Waymo for the scofflaw maneuver only to discover that no one was behind the wheel.

The car stopped automatically when it saw the police lights during a Friday evening DUI checkpoint, but instead of a person IRL, officers say they were connected with a Waymo rep over the phone. After a brief exchange, the Waymo was sent on its way. Under current law, officials explained, they couldn't issue a ticket. "Our citation books don't have a box for 'robot,'" they joked on Facebook. "Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1329246/no-driver-no-hands-no-clue-waymo-pulled-over-for-illegal-u-turn?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] China Opens World's Highest Bridge, Breaking Its Own Record
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 20:22:01


The world's highest bridge opened in China on Sunday, taking the crown from another bridge in the same province. From a report: The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge soars about 2,050 feet above a river and gorge in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou. It is more than twice as high as the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is suspended 956 feet above the Arkansas River in Colorado and is the highest in the United States.

According to Chinese state media, the new Guizhou bridge also sets a record as the world's longest bridge in a mountainous region, spanning 4,600 feet across. Hailed as China's latest "infrastructure miracle," the bridge is designed to spur tourism and economic growth in one of the country's least developed regions.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1459255/china-opens-worlds-highest-bridge-breaking-its-own-record?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Microsoft Launches 'Vibe Working' in Excel and Word
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 20:22:01


An anonymous reader shares a report: You've probably heard of vibe coding -- novices writing apps by creating a simple AI prompt -- but now Microsoft wants to introduce a similar thing for its Office apps. The software maker is launching a new Agent Mode in Excel and Word that can generate complex spreadsheets and documents with just a prompt. A new Office Agent in Copilot chat, powered by Anthropic models, is also launching today that can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents from a "vibe working" chatbot.

[...] Agent Mode essentially takes a complex task and breaks it down with planning and reasoning that you can follow. It then uses OpenAI's GPT-5 model to break down each step of document creation into an agentic task and execute it. It's like watching an automated macro in real time, showing everything it's doing in the sidebar.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1610226/microsoft-launches-vibe-working-in-excel-and-word?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Landlords Are Demanding Tenants' Workplace Login Details To Verify Their Income
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 21:22:01


An anonymous reader writes: Landlords are using a service that logs into a potential renter's employer systems and scrapes their paystubs and other information en masse, potentially in violation of U.S. hacking laws, according to screenshots of the tool shared with 404 Media.

The screenshots highlight the intrusive methods some landlords use when screening potential tenants, taking information they may not need, or legally be entitled to, to assess a renter.

"This is a statewide consumer-finance abuse that forces renters to surrender payroll and bank logins or face homelessness," one renter who was forced to use the tool and who saw it taking more data than was necessary for their apartment application told 404 Media. 404 Media granted the person anonymity to protect them from retaliation from their landlord or the services used. [...]

"Argyle hijacked my live Workday session, stayed hidden from view, and downloaded every pay stub plus all W-4s back to 2024, each PDF seconds apart," they said. "Workday audit logs show dozens of 'Print' events from two IPs from a MAC which I do not use," they added, referring to a MAC address, a unique identifier assigned to each device on a network.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1634200/landlords-are-demanding-tenants-workplace-login-details-to-verify-their-income?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] New Claude Model Runs 30-Hour Marathon To Create 11,000-Line Slack Clone
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 22:22:02


Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5 ran autonomously for 30 hours to build a chat application similar to Slack or Teams, generating approximately 11,000 lines of code before stopping upon task completion. The model, announced today, marks a significant leap from the company's Opus 4 model, which ran for seven hours in May.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 performs three times better at browser navigation and computer use than Anthropic's October technology. Beta-tester Canva deployed the model for complex engineering tasks in its codebase and product features. Anthropic paired the release with virtual machines, memory, context management, and multi-agent support tools, enabling developers to build their own AI agents using the same building blocks that power Claude Code.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1733238/new-claude-model-runs-30-hour-marathon-to-create-11000-line-slack-clone?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Microplastics Could Be Weakening Your Bones, Research Suggests
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 23:22:02


A review of 62 scientific studies published in Osteoporosis International found that microplastics weaken bones by disrupting bone marrow stem cells and stimulating osteoclasts, cells that degrade bone tissue. Laboratory experiments found the particles reduce cell viability, induce premature cellular aging, modify gene expression, and trigger inflammatory responses. Animal studies found microplastic accumulation decreases white blood cell counts and deteriorates bone microstructure, creating irregular cell structures that increase fracture risk. Rodrigo Bueno de Oliveira from the State University of Campinas in Brazil said the effects interrupted skeletal growth in test animals.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1818259/microplastics-could-be-weakening-your-bones-research-suggests?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Environmental Damage is Putting European Way of Life at Risk, Says Report
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-29 23:22:02


The European way of life is being jeopardized by environmental degradation, a report has found, with EU officials warning against weakening green rules. The Guardian: The continent has made "important progress" in cutting planet-heating pollution, according to the European Environment Agency, but the death of wildlife and breakdown of the climate are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy. The seventh edition of the report, which has been published every five years since 1995, found:

1. More than 80% of protected habitats are in a poor or bad state, with "unsustainable" consumption and production patterns driving loss of wildlife.
2. The EU's "carbon sink" has declined by about 30% in a decade as logging, wildfires and pests damage forests.
3. Emissions from transport and food have barely budged since 2005, despite progress in other sectors.
4. Member states have failed to adapt to extreme weather as fast as risk levels have risen.
5. Water stress already affects one in three Europeans and will worsen as the climate changes.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/191252/environmental-damage-is-putting-european-way-of-life-at-risk-says-report?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Daylight Savings Time Is So Bad, It's Messing With Our View of the Cosmos
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 00:22:02


An anonymous reader shares a report: In a preprint titled "Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time?," Reed Essick, former LIGO member and now a physicist at the University of Toronto, gives a simple answer to the paper's title: "Yes, it can." The paper, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, was recently uploaded to arXiv. That might seem like an odd connection. It's true that observational astronomy must contend with noise from light pollution, satellites, and communication signals. But these are tangible sources of noise that scientists can sink their teeth into, whereas daylight savings time is considerably more nebulous and abstract as a potential problem.

To be clear, and as the paper points out, daylight savings time does not influence actual signals from merging black holes billions of light-years away -- which, as far as we know, don't operate on daylight savings time. The "detection" here refers to the "non-trivial" changes in human activity having to do with the researchers involved in this kind of work, among other work- and process-related factors tied to the sudden shift in time. The presence of individuals -- whether through operational workflows or even their physical activity at the observatories -- has a measurable impact on the data collected by LIGO and its sister institutions, Virgo in Italy and KAGRA in Japan, the new paper argues.

To see why this might be the case, consider again the definition of gravitational waves: ripples in space-time. A very broad interpretation of this definition implies that any object in space-time affected by gravity can cause ripples, like a researcher opening a door or the rumble of a car moving across the LIGO parking lot. Of course, these ripples are so tiny and insignificant that LIGO doesn't register them as gravitational waves. But continued exposure to various seismic and human vibrations does have some effect on the detector -- which, again, engineers and physicists have attempted to account for. What they forgot to consider, however, were the irregular shifts in daily activity as researchers moved back and forth from daylight savings time. The bi-annual time adjustment shifted LIGO's expected sensitivity pattern by roughly 75 minutes, the paper noted. Weekends, and even the time of day, also influenced the integrity of the collected data, but these factors had been raised by the community in the past.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1934243/daylight-savings-time-is-so-bad-its-messing-with-our-view-of-the-cosmos?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] UK Government To Guarantee $2 Billion Jaguar Land Rover Loan After Cyber Shutdown
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 01:22:02


The UK government will underwrite a $2 billion loan guarantee to Jaguar Land Rover in a bid to support its suppliers as a cyber-attack continues to halt production at the car maker. BBC: Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the loan, from a commercial bank, would protect jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and across the UK. The manufacturer has been forced to suspend production for weeks after being targeted by hackers at the end of August. There have been growing concerns some suppliers, mostly small businesses, could go bust due to the prolonged shutdown.

About 30,000 people are directly employed at the company's UK plants with about 100,000 working for firms in the supply chain. Some of these firms supply parts exclusively to JLR, while others sell components to other carmakers as well. It is believed to be the first time that a company has received government help as a result of a cyber-attack.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1945254/uk-government-to-guarantee-2-billion-jaguar-land-rover-loan-after-cyber-shutdown?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] OpenAI's New Sora Video Generator To Require Copyright Holders To Opt Out
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 01:22:02


An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator that creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear, according to people familiar with the matter. OpenAI began alerting talent agencies and studios about the forthcoming product and its opt-out process over the last week and plans to release the new version in the coming days, the people said.

The new opt-out process means that movie studios and other intellectual property owners would have to explicitly ask OpenAI not to include their copyrighted material in videos Sora creates. While copyrighted characters will require an opt-out, the new product won't generate images of recognizable public figures without their permission, people familiar with OpenAI's thinking said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/1959236/openais-new-sora-video-generator-to-require-copyright-holders-to-opt-out?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Open Source Android Repository F-Droid Says Google's New Rules Will Shut It Down
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 02:22:01


F-Droid has warned that Google's upcoming developer verification program will kill the free and open source app repository. Google announced plans several weeks ago to force all Android app developers to register their apps and identity with the company. Apps not validated by Google will not be installable on certified Android devices.

F-Droid says it cannot require developers to register with Google or take over app identifiers to register for them. The site operators say doing so would effectively take over distribution rights from app authors. Google plans to begin testing the verification scheme in the coming weeks and may charge registration fees. Unverified apps will start being blocked next year in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand before expanding globally in 2027. F-Droid is calling on US and EU regulators to intervene.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2015257/open-source-android-repository-f-droid-says-googles-new-rules-will-shut-it-down?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Gavin Newsom Signs First-In-Nation AI Safety Law
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 02:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law on Monday that will force major AI companies to reveal their safety protocols -- marking the end of a lobbying battle with big tech companies like ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Meta and setting the groundwork for a potential national standard.

The proposal was the second attempt by the author, ambitious San Francisco Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, to pass such legislation after Newsom vetoed a broader measure last year that set off an international debate. It is already being watched in Congress and other states as an example to follow as lawmakers seek to rein in an emerging technology that has been embraced by the Trump administration in the race against China, but which has also prompted concerns for its potential to create harms.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2054225/gavin-newsom-signs-first-in-nation-ai-safety-law?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Afghanistan Hit By Nationwide Internet Blackout As Taliban Cuts Fiber Optic Cables
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 03:22:02


The Taliban have imposed a nationwide telecommunications shutdown in Afghanistan, severing fibre-optic connections and cutting off internet, mobile, and satellite services as part of "morality" measures. Netblock is currently tracking the outages. The BBC reports: Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. Flights from Kabul airport have also been disrupted, according to reports. Several people in Kabul have told the BBC that their fibre-optic internet stopped working towards the end of the working day, around17:00 local time (12:30 GMT). Because of this, it is understood many people will not notice the impact until Tuesday morning, when banking services and other businesses are due to resume. [...]

The Taliban earlier said an alternative route for internet access would be created, without giving any details. Business leaders at the time warned that if the internet ban continued their activities would be seriously hit. Hamid Haidari, former editor-in-chief of Afghan news channel 1TV, said after the shutdown that "loneliness enveloped the entire country." "Afghanistan has now officially taken first place in the competition with North Korea for [internet] disconnection" he said on X.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2059245/afghanistan-hit-by-nationwide-internet-blackout-as-taliban-cuts-fiber-optic-cables?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] FCC Mistakenly Leaks Confidential iPhone 16e Schematics
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 04:22:01


The FCC mistakenly published a 163-page PDF containing detailed schematics for Apple's upcoming iPhone 16e, despite Apple explicitly requesting indefinite confidentiality to protect trade secrets. AppleInsider reports: A cover letter is also distributed alongside the schematics, addressed to the FCC and dated September 16, 2024. The letter from Apple is a request for the confidential treatment of documents that are filed with the FCC. [...] The letter from Apple requests a series of documents are withheld from public viewing "indefinitely." The justification is that they contain "confidential and proprietary trade secrets" that are not disclosed to the public post-release, due to giving competitors an "unfair advantage."

The list of documents, Apple states, includes: Block Diagrams, Electrical Schematic Diagrams, Technical Descriptions, Product Specifications, Antenna Locations, Tune-Up Procedure, and Software Security Description. Other documents, such as external and internal photographs, shots of the test setup, and the user manual, are deemed to be less damaging and have "short-term confidentiality" requirements. In those cases, Apple asks for short-term confidentiality for 180 days after the equipment authorization is granted by the FCC.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/215235/fcc-mistakenly-leaks-confidential-iphone-16e-schematics?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Buyers of RadioShack Accused of Running $112 Million Ponzi Scheme
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 05:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: A pair of e-commerce entrepreneurs who bought a number of well-known retail brands -- including RadioShack, Modell's Sporting Goods and Pier 1 Imports -- out of bankruptcy are accused of running a Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday accused Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez, founders of the Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), of defrauding investors out of approximately $112 million. Through their holding company, Mehr and Lopez acquired distressed brick-and-mortar companies in order to turn them into successful, online-only brands. Dress Barn and Linens 'n Things were also among their acquisitions. [...]

The SEC's suit alleges that between 2020 and 2022, Mehr and Lopez, "made material misrepresentations" to hundreds of investors about the bankrupt retailers they had acquired. For example, to entice individuals to invest in their acquisitions, they said their portfolio companies were "on fire" and that "cash flow is strong." They also told prospective backers that money raised for a company would only be invested in that specific firm. That proved not to be the case, according to the SEC's lawsuit, which was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

"Contrary to these representations, while some of the REV Retailer Brands generated revenue, none generated any profits," the suit states. "Consequently, in order to pay interest, dividends and maturing note payments, Defendants resorted to using a combination of loans from outside lenders, merchant cash advances, money raised from new and existing investors, and transfers from other portfolio companies to cover obligations." The SEC alleges that at least $5.9 million of returns paid to investors were actually Ponzi-like payments funded by other investors, as opposed to companies' profits. Additionally, the federal regulatory agency claims that Mehr and Lopez allocated $16 million worth of investments for their own use, according to the filing.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2112250/buyers-of-radioshack-accused-of-running-112-million-ponzi-scheme?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] ChatGPT Adds 'Instant Checkout' To Shop Directly In Chat
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 05:22:01


OpenAI unveiled Instant Checkout, a new ChatGPT feature that lets users buy stuff directly through its chatbot. Currently, the feature supports single-item purchases directly from Etsy sellers, but support for more than one million Shopify merchants is coming soon. It's also only available to U.S. ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Free users at this time. CNBC reports: OpenAI will take a fee from transactions that are completed through ChatGPT, which means Instant Checkout could become an important new revenue stream for the startup. OpenAI is not yet profitable, and is burning through cash as it works to scale up its computing infrastructure. The company declined to share specific details about how large the fees are since they are determined through confidential contracts with Etsy and Shopify. Instant Checkout is free to users and will not affect their prices, OpenAI said.

"Our vision for ChatGPT -- and a lot of the technology we create, but especially ChatGPT -- is that it's not just providing you information, it is also helping you get things done in the real world," Michelle Fradin, OpenAI's product lead for ChatGPT commerce, told CNBC in an interview. The company plans to introduce multi-item carts and expand the regional availability of Instant Checkout moving forward. [...]

Instant Checkout is powered by OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol, which is the underlying technology that allows users to complete a transaction directly with a merchant through ChatGPT. OpenAI built the framework in partnership with the fintech company Stripe, which powers ChatGPT subscriptions. OpenAI initially decided to use Agentic Commerce Protocol for e-commerce, but Fradin said the company thinks it could be used to facilitate other types of purchases or payments as well. OpenAI is open-sourcing the framework to help merchants build integrations more quickly, and so that developers can explore different use cases, she said.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2119248/chatgpt-adds-instant-checkout-to-shop-directly-in-chat?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Streameast Reclaims Domain Name Previously Seized By US Government
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 06:22:01


Pirate sports streaming site Streameast has quietly reclaimed the Streameast.xyz domain after U.S. authorities allowed it to expire, despite having seized it under a federal warrant in 2024. TorrentFreak reports: While researching both old and newly-seized Streameast domains recently, we noticed that Streameast.xyz expired earlier this year. Apparently, it was not renewed by those who controlled it, as the seizure banner was gone. Instead, the domain appeared to have been reclaimed by the original Streameast team. While it is not listed as an official mirror site, Streameast.xyz points to content from the original site once again. And indeed, the original Streameast team confirms that the domain is theirs.

It is not clear why the U.S. authorities lost control of the domain or whether it was intentional. Other domain names covered by the same seizure warrant were renewed recently, including Streameast.io. The Streameast team might view this as a significant symbolic victory. After all, they effectively reclaimed a federally seized domain name without having to mount a legal challenge. In the grander scheme, one domain name is not going to make a massive difference. However, the U.S. government went through the trouble to obtain a federal warrant, so it's ironic to see it controlled by pirates once again.

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2344210/streameast-reclaims-domain-name-previously-seized-by-us-government?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

[>] Reddit Mods Sued By YouTuber Ethan Klein Fight Efforts To Unmask Them
bot.slashdot
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2025-09-30 06:22:01


alternative_right shares a report from 404 Media: Critics of YouTuber Ethan Klein are pushing back on subpoenas that would reveal their identities as part of an ongoing legal fight between Klein and his detractors. Klein is a popular content creator whose YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers. He's also involved in a labyrinthine personal and legal beef with three other content creators and the moderators of a subreddit that criticizes his work. Klein filed a legal motion to compel Discord and Reddit to reveal the identities of those moderators, a move their lawyers say would put them in harm's way and stifle free speech on the internet forever.

[...] On July 31, a judge allowed Klein's lawyers to file a subpoena with Reddit and Discord that would reveal the identities of the people running r/h3snark and an associated Discord server. On September 22, lawyers for the defendants filed a motion to quash the subpoenas. "On its face, the Action is about copyright infringement," the latest filing said. "At its heart, however, the Action is about stifling criticism and seeking retribution by unmasking individuals for perceived reputational harms TEI [Klein's production company] attributes to [John Doe moderators] unrelated to TEI's intellectual property rights." [...]

The anonymity of places like Reddit and Discord grant a layer of protection to people seeking to critique power. This case could set a dangerous precedent, the lawyers believe. "If the court allows TEI's Subpoenas, it would enable TEI to impose a considerable price on Does' use of the vehicle of anonymous speech -- including public exposure, real risks of retaliation and actual harm, and the financial and other burdens of defending the Action," the filing said. The filing added: "Very few would-be commentators are prepared to bear costs of this magnitude. So, when word gets out that the price tag of criticizing Ethan is this high -- that speech will disappear. But that is precisely what Ethan Klein wants."

[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/2350234/reddit-mods-sued-by-youtuber-ethan-klein-fight-efforts-to-unmask-them?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.

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