185679158
submission
Bruce66423 writes:
'Scientists have solved the mystery of when black holes “burp” – when the astronomical bodies launch jets after feeding on stars, blasting material enormous distances in space.
'Scientists know from rare observations of stars being torn apart by black holes – a process that involves a stretching effect known as “spaghettification” – that “only about half of the star that gets too close to the back hole will end up eventually being swallowed by that black hole”, Goodwin said.
'The other material is launched back into space in powerful jets and outflows, sometimes so large they “can influence the entire evolution of a galaxy”, she said. “You can think of it as a black hole burp.”'
185678998
submission
stockbrook writes:
Searching for the top Christmas events in Essex? Stock Brook Manor offers the best Essex Christmas parties, festive dinners, and holiday celebrations. Enjoy premium food, entertainment, and décor at Essex's leading Christmas events venue. Book your Essex Christmas party today with Stock Brook Manor.
185671624
submission
wiredmikey writes:
Spain’s data protection regulator is investigating what may be the first reported personal-data breach executed through an AI agent. According to the filing, the agent allegedly chained together a successful login, vulnerability discovery, modification of personal data, and access to invoices.
Details remain limited, and researchers caution against assuming a “rogue AI” scenario. Still, the incident raises a consequential question for defenders: as attackers use agents to plan, execute, and adapt at machine speed, will traditional human-led detection and response remain fast enough?
185670266
submission
golem100 writes:
A couple weeks ago PCMag, and others, wrote articles along the lines of: "Microsoft Finally Backs Down: The Windows 11 Taskbar Update You've Been Waiting For". This is currently implemented with CU KB5120998 and since M$ has elected to defer "activation" of this feature--some two weeks later for most users it still needs to be enabled by the ViVe tool: vivetool /enable /id:59213768,61090762
Um, No...
The fundamental set of [lost] attributes that this "We brought Movable TaskBar back" lacks:
You can not control the position of the TaskBar on each desktop monitor--example: I have four displays on my desktop, three Landscape & one of which is in a Portrait orientation for reading documents.
With Windows7/8/10 you could position the TaskBar so that it was "Out of the way" and each display--on the right side of the right-most Landscape, on the left for the left-most Landscape display, & on the top/bottom for the Portrait. [same as my desktop on my Linux workstation]
Now you still get the same Taskbar alignment on all desktops.
You can not "resize" the taskbar. (well, you can--it has three sizes: too big, too small, and really way too small) For the previous three generations of the OS you could "Drag-Select" and resize the TaskBar to be the correct size for your needs on your desktop. [...just as I can on my KDE Desktop!]
With this implementation, 1/3 of the Taskbar real estate is consumed with "TaskBar-Tray Notification Icons."
Nobody asked for a partial, broken, re-implementation. The ask was: "Put it Back as it was!"
Dealing with M$ is pretty much like getting your 15 year old to do their chores on garbage night.
185668710
submission
alternative_right writes:
While much of the automatic license plate readerâ(TM)s (ALPR) most sensitive storage remained encrypted and inaccessible, the joint analysis of the recovered data shows that software running on the device explicitly detects people as well as vehicles, license plates, and bicycles. The camera can produce dozens of images of a single passing vehicle and, according to several weeks of recovered logs, generated more than a million images. Its computer-vision software also sometimes isolated bumper stickers and other graphics, including, in one case, an American flag patch on a motorcyclistâ(TM)s saddlebag.
185663570
submission
locater16 writes:
"OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Chief Executive Sam Altman said in remarks published on Saturday, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence that render "unacceptable" even a 10% risk that AI could cause human extinction by decade's end... "I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don't feel pressure on that," Altman told business magazine Fortune."
While Altman and other AI model company executives have been talking up "safety" concerns, there has been no mention of other AI model questions, such as multiple mathematicians accusing OpenAI of stealing their work and claiming it as their own, a charge OpenAI excuses rather denies in any way. Nor that spending billions of dollars a quarter to develop new AI models has made AI model companies like OpenAI deeply unprofitable, not traditionally a sales pitch seen in major IPOs.
185656146
submission
185654154
submission
fjo3 writes:
China’s top spy chief has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a direct threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power, in what is the highest-level and most detailed articulation yet of how Beijing sees the technology’s security risks.
The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is in contrast to the warnings dominating the AI debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that AI could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself.
In an article published Sunday in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Chen called for more party control over AI and stricter government oversight. This, he said, was necessary to protect political stability at home; to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns from “hostile forces”; and to compete militarily with countries like the United States.
185651078
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Windows 11 KB5121003 allegedly corrupts BIOS leading to installation fails on HP systems
“The thread, on Microsoft's official support forum, got upvoted by many who were likely facing the same issue. One of the users on the thread, KP, commented that they too were facing a similar problem on their Omnibook X 14-KC0013DX, a 14 inch model HP device. The user adds that HP support confirmed to them that Microsoft's update apparently corrupted the BIOS, and as such, they had to reset the BIOS settings to default to fix the issue.”
185650008
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
“On 13 September 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) published a situation update reporting a total of 7 200 confirmed cases, including 3 475 related deaths (from data up until 12 September). A total of 923 patients are hospitalised in isolation. This represents an increase of 258 new confirmed cases and 126 deaths since the previous ECDC report on 11 September (reporting data up until 10 September). In total, 88% of identified case contacts are under follow-up in the affected provinces. Overall, 62 of 167 health zones are currently affected across the seven provinces.”
185648236
submission
mrspoonsi writes:
US President Donald Trump posted:
"The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!
"The Trump Administration has stopped AI 'people' from doing bad, or potentially bad, 'things,' like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a 'perfect little angel' — and we will continue to do so!
"We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!
"There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.
"WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!
"We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!
"Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
185647820
submission
schwit1 writes:
What we are seeing is a massive, pretty obviously coordinated campaign by AI researchers, companies, NGOs, and politicians to strangle competition in an industry and, as I will show, save the financial bacon of the top AI companies that are vastly overextended financially because they have made contractual commitments that they simply have no prospect of paying for.
185640134
submission
fjo3 writes:
As of July 7, all new passenger vehicles sold in the E.U. had to come equipped with "advanced driver distraction warning" systems that watch for signs of "distraction" and, upon detecting them, issue a visual and an audio or tactile warning. Cars will warn drivers whose gaze drifts for more than three to six seconds, depending on their speed.
To comply with this mandate, cars will have to fix cameras on drivers' faces at all times, turning private motor vehicles into efficient surveillance systems. The equipment is supposed to operate as a "closed-loop system," meaning it "shall only continuously record and retain data necessary for the system to function and operate." But it is not clear how that rule will be enforced.
Beyond privacy concerns, some critics worry that the system itself will become a dangerous distraction, issuing warnings every time a driver changes the radio station or glances at a passenger. Others have complained that the requirement will increase auto costs.
185637038
submission
alternative_right writes:
A massive worldwide survey of physicists has revealed surprisingly little agreement about some of the universeâ(TM)s biggest mysteries. No majority backed the standard cosmological model, a leading explanation for dark matter, or any single theory of quantum gravity. One area of stronger agreement stood out: 68% said the Big Bang does not necessarily represent the beginning of time. Researchers say the divisions show just how alive and unsettled the frontiers of physics remain.
185635698
submission
Mirnotoriety writes:
Letby’s lawyer: Public inquiry ‘clouded by her innocence’
The findings of the Thirlwall Inquiry will be clouded by Lucy Letby's innocence, her barrister has said.
On Tuesday, Lady Justice Thirlwall will publish the long-awaited report into how the NHS and other institutions could have prevented Letby from killing seven babies and attempting to murder seven more at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
But large numbers of medical and legal experts have questioned Letby's guilt and the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is deciding whether to send her case back to the Court of Appeal.
At the outset of the inquiry in 2024, Lady Justice Thirlwall emphasised that the inquiry's remit was not to retry the case or review Letby's guilt.
She refused Mr McDonald's request for Letby to be represented in the £18m hearing ..
185633764
submission
gethotelreviews writes:
Today's AI can already help engineers build software and develop AI systems. Follow that trajectory far enough and an intriguing possibility appears: machines increasingly participating in the development of their successors. The question then becomes not whether AI can program, but where human control and machine contribution will eventually meet.
185631426
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
For the better part of a decade, some of the world's biggest companies have been trying to cut reliance on China. India was widely expected to be a big winner. Five years on, and after billions in government subsidies, its gains are real but narrow. Between 2016 and 2025, China's share of U.S. goods imports fell to 9% from 12%, and most of what it lost went to Taiwan, Vietnam and Mexico.
India assembles 28% of the world's iPhones and exports almost 80%, mostly to the U.S. The more valuable components are still made abroad, and manufacturing's share of India's economy has barely moved in a decade.
185626710
submission
theodp writes:
"Amazon Vine," the e-tailer explains, "is an invitation-only program which selects the most insightful reviewers in the Amazon store to serve as Vine Voices. Vine Voices have the unique opportunity to order items free of charge and share their product experiences with Amazon customers to help them make informed buying decisions. [...] When customers see a review with the special Vine badge, they can trust that they're getting an honest, unbiased opinion from a real customer just like them."
So, how well does the reality live up to the promise? In the case of the new book Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools, not so much. Described by the publisher as "the inside story of how Big Tech catalyzed, co-opted, and ultimately came to capture computer science and AI education in America" ("Fourth graders doing Google-branded coding lessons. Amazon schooling seventh graders on its warehouse robots. Advanced Placement computing courses from Microsoft and Apple."), the top review selected by Amazon informs customers that the book is a 'good introduction to coding.'
"I really enjoyed Coding Kids," writes the 'trusted' Amazon Vine reviewer. "What stood out to me most was how the book takes something that can sound complicated—computer coding—and makes it feel approachable and even fun. As I was reading it, I found myself thinking that this is exactly the kind of book that could help a child become interested in technology without feeling overwhelmed by it. I particularly liked the way it encourages kids to be curious, experiment, and solve problems on their own. That was probably my favorite part because it shows that coding isn’t just about computers—it’s also about creativity and learning how to think differently. I would definitely recommend Coding Kids to parents, grandparents, or teachers looking for a good introduction to coding. I came away from the book thinking that it could genuinely spark a child’s interest in technology and give them the confidence to explore something new."
While likely just another example of Hanlon's Razor ("Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."), the recasting of an investigative nonfiction book that casts a critical eye at Amazon's influence on K-12 education as a learn-to-code primer for children doesn't exactly instill trust in the Amazon Vine program or Amazon's 'Top Reviews' selection process. More on-point book reviews of Coding Kids can be found at the Washington Independent Review of Books ("Turns out, Silicon Valley isn’t especially altruistic.") and Science ("Big Tech’s crusade to get kids coding is more self-interested than it first appears").
185625434
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
FortiBleed: Half of Internet-Facing FortiGate Firewalls Have Leaked, Working Credentials
“A credential-exposure campaign now known as FortiBleed has compromised working login credentials for tens of thousands of FortiGate firewalls and VPN gateways worldwide, with independent researchers estimating that roughly half of all internet-facing FortiGate devices are represented in the leaked data. CISA says the exposure is tied to “approximately 74,000 Fortinet devices, including firewalls and virtual private network (VPN) gateways,” a figure that has since grown as new analysis has come in CISA.”
185625344
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Florida confirms DMV database breached via stolen police account
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) has confirmed that its DAVID driver database suffered a data breach after the ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed to have compromised the system.
The disclosure comes after the ShinyHunters extortion group claimed it breached the DAVID database and stole more than 200,000 driver records.
