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Submission + - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 arrives with AI assistant and post-quantum security (betanews.com)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Red Hat has just taken the wraps off Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, and honestly, thereâ(TM)s a lot for the Linux community to get excited about. You see, this new version brings some real substance, pushing enterprise Linux in directions that truly matter for todayâ(TM)s IT world.

First and foremost, there's Lightspeed — the new AI-powered assistant baked right into RHEL 10. Instead of spending all day searching for answers or poking through documentation, admins can simply ask questions directly from the command line and get real-time help. This is the kind of smart, hands-on support that can actually make life easier, especially for those just getting started or managing sprawling environments.

Submission + - Nvidia Accused of Media Manipulation Ahead of RTX 5060 Launch

Submitted by jjslash
jjslash writes: Hardware Unboxed has raised serious concerns about Nvidia's handling of the upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 launch. In a recent video, the independent tech reviewers allege that Nvidia is using tightly controlled preview programs to manipulate public perception, while actively sidelining critical voices.

The company is favoring a handful of more "friendly" outlets with early access, under strict conditions. These outlets were given preview drivers – but only under guidelines that make their products shine beyond what's real-world testing would conclude. To cite two examples:

  • One of the restrictions is not comparing the new RTX 5060 to the RTX 4060. Don't even need to explain than one.
  • Another restriction or heavy-handed suggestion: run the RTX 5060 with 4x multi-frame generation turned on, inflating FPS results, while older GPUs that dont support MFG look considerably worse in charts.

The result: glowing previews published just days before the official launch, creating a first impression based almost entirely on Nvidia's marketing narrative.

Submission + - Are Tech Giants Cooking Their AI Coding Productivity Books?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In earnings calls, tech conferences, and public statements, tech CEOs have lately taken to singing the praises of eating their companies' AI dogfood, suggesting that their AI is so good and responsible for so much of the productivity at their organizations that it's forced them to rid their workforce of software engineers who have now been rendered unnecessary by AI. It's a powerful pitch, no doubt, but people have struggled to measure programming productivity for 50+ years, so one would be advised to take the claims with a grain of salt, especially coming from the mouths of tech CEOs who are far removed from programming.

Now, The Information reports that some of those in the recent batch of terminated Microsoft engineers may have in effect been ordered to dig their own AI graves. The (paywalled) story begins: "Jeff Hulse, a Microsoft vice president who oversees roughly 400 software engineers, told the team in recent months to use the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot, powered by OpenAI, to generate half the computer code they write, according to a person who heard the remarks. That would represent an increase from the 20% to 30% of code AI currently produces at the company, and shows how rapidly Microsoft is moving to incorporate such technology. Then on Tuesday, Microsoft laid off more than a dozen engineers on Hulse’s team as part of a broader layoff of 6,000 people across the company that appeared to hit engineers harder than other types of roles, this person said."

Submission + - Danes are finally going nuclear. They have to, because of all their renewables (archive.is)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “Most of the renewed interest in nuclear seen around the world stems from the expected growth in electricity demand from AI data centres, but Denmark is different. The Danes are concerned about possible blackouts similar to the one that struck Iberia recently. Like Spain and Portugal, Denmark is heavily dependent on weather-based renewable energy which is not very compatible with the way power grids operate.”

Submission + - Among tech layoffs 120K H-1B visas approved (uscis.gov)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

FY 2026 H-1B Cap Process Update We received enough electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year 2026 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption, also known as the masterâ(TM)s cap. We selected 118,660 unique beneficiaries, resulting in 120,141 selected registrations in the initial selection for the FY 2026 H-1B cap.

This is disappointing failure in otherwise excellent track record of Trump administration of reducing out of control immigration.

Comment Re:Citations? (Score 2) 119

by Deimos24601 (#65192221) Attached to: AI Reshapes Corporate Workforce as Companies Halt Traditional Hiring
This reads like an article generated by AI. A few recent quotes about Salesforce, and then some questionable data. One error I notice immediately is the line about Cisco job cuts. That was last year that a second round of job cuts targeting 7% happened. There have been no announced job cuts at Cisco this year.
Transportation

California Considers Taking Over Some Oil Refineries (yahoo.com) 163

Posted by EditorDavid from the April-fuels-day dept.
California is "considering state ownership of one or more oil refineries," reports the Los Angeles Times.

They call the idea "one item on a list of options presented by the California Energy Commission to ensure steady gas supplies as oil companies pull back from the refinery business in the state." "The state recognizes that they're on a pathway to more refinery closures," said Skip York, chief energy strategist at energy consultant Turner Mason & Co. The risk to consumers and the state's economy, he said, is gasoline supply disappearing faster than consumer demand, resulting in fuel shortages, higher prices and severe logistical challenges.

Gasoline demand is falling in California, albeit slowly, for two reasons: more efficient gasoline engines, and the increasing number of electric vehicles on the road. Gasoline consumption in California peaked in 2005 and fell 15% through 2023, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, now represent about 25% of annual new car sales... The drop in demand is causing fundamental strategic shifts among the state's major oil refiners: Chevron, Marathon, Phillips 66, PBF Energy and Valero.

Already, two California refineries have ceased producing gasoline to make biodiesel fuel for use in heavy-duty trucks, a cleaner-fuel alternative that enjoys rich state subsidies. More worrisome, the Phillips 66 refinery complex in Wilmington, just outside Los Angeles, plans to close down permanently by year's end. That leaves eight major refineries in California capable of producing gasoline. The closure of any one would create serious gasoline supply issues, industry analysts say. But both Chevron and Valero are contemplating permanent refinery closures. The implications? "Demand will decline gradually," York said, "but supply will fall out in chunks." What's unknown is how many refineries will close, and how soon, and how that will affect supply and demand...

A state refinery takeover seems like a radical idea, but the fact that it's being considered demonstrates the seriousness of the supply issue. It's one of several option laid out by the California Energy Commission, which is fulfilling a legislative order to find ways to ensure "a reliable supply of affordable and safe transportation fuels in California." The options list is disparate: Ship in more gasoline from Asia; regulate refineries on the order of electric utilities; cap profit margins; and many more.
92% of California's gas is produced in refineries, the Times reports. But the special gasoline blends required to reduce air pollution "also drive up gasoline prices and raise the risk of shortages, because little such gasoline is produced outside California."

Submission + - Tumblr To Join the Fediverse After WordPress Migration Completes (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Since 2022, blogging site Tumblr has been teasing its plans to integrate with the fediverse — the open social web powered by the protocol ActivityPub also used by Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, and others. Now, the Automattic-owned blogging platform is sharing more information about when and how that integration could actually happen. As it turns out, the current plan to tie Tumblr into the open social web will come about by way of the site’s planned move to the WordPress infrastructure. Automattic confirmed to TechCrunch that when the migration is complete, every Tumblr user will be able to federate their blog via ActivityPub, just as every WordPress.com user can today. The company noted that the migration could also allow for other open web integrations, like giving Tumblr users a way to run other custom plug-ins or themes.

Last summer, Automattic announced it would move its half a billion blogs to WordPress, to make it easier for the company to build tools and features that worked across both services, while also allowing Tumblr to take advantage of the open source developments from WordPress.org. Though the WordPress community itself is in a state of upheaval, ultimately running Tumblr’s back end on WordPress would allow for greater efficiencies, while not changing the interface and experience that Tumblr’s user base has grown to love. Automattic declined to share a time frame as to when the migration would be complete, given its scale, but a rep for the company called the progress so far “exciting.”

Submission + - Thomson Reuters Wins First Major AI Copyright Case in the US (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Thomson Reuters haswonthe first major AI copyright case in the United States. In 2020, the media and technology conglomerate filed an unprecedentedAI copyright lawsuitagainst the legal AI startup Ross Intelligence. In the complaint, Thomson Reuters claimed the AI firm reproduced materials from its legal research firm Westlaw. Today, a judge ruled (PDF) in Thomson Reuters’ favor, finding that the company’s copyright was indeed infringed by Ross Intelligence’s actions.

“None of Ross’s possible defenses holds water. I reject them all,” wrote US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas, in a summary judgement. [...] Notably, Judge Bibas ruled in Thomson Reuters’ favor on the question of fair use. Thefair use doctrineis akey componentof how AI companies are seeking to defend themselves against claims that they used copyrighted materials illegally. The idea underpinning fair use is that sometimes it’s legally permissible to use copyrighted works without permission—for example, to create parody works, or in noncommercial research or news production. When determining whether fair use applies, courts use a four-factor test, looking at the reason behind the work, the nature of the work (whether it’s poetry, nonfiction, private letters, et cetera), the amount of copyrighted work used, and how the use impacts the market value of the original. Thomson Reuters prevailed on two of the four factors, but Bibas described the fourth as the most important, and ruled that Ross “meant to compete with Westlaw by developing a market substitute.”

Submission + - How 3D-printed parts changed the NASCAR Cup Series (popsci.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Faster, easier, and cheaper.

In 2021, NASCAR unveiled its Next Gen platform that included a number of rule changes from the previous iteration. Now fully symmetrical and using composite body panels instead of metal, the latest NASCAR vehicles are more like the street versions of the Chevrolet Camaro, the Ford Mustang, and the Toyota TRD Camry.

Race car driving isn’t an inexpensive sport, and one of the goals for the Next Gen platform was to reduce operating costs and create parity across the board. Technique Chassis, the sole chassis manufacturer for the NASCAR Cup Series, builds a modular offering in three parts. As a result, everyone is starting with the same platform, and finding a competitive advantage is in the tiniest details.

One smart way to differentiate from the competition is 3D-printed parts. But this isn’t your hobbyist level 3D printing.

Submission + - Boeing warns SLS employees of potential layoffs (spacenews.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Boeing SLS employees were informed Feb. 7 that the company was making preparations to cut up to 400 jobs from the program because of “revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations.” The specific positions being considered for elimination were not announced but would account for a significant fraction of the overall SLS workforce at the company.

Submission + - Google joins firms dropping diversity recruitment goals (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Alain Williams
Alain Williams writes: Google has become the latest big US firm to scrap its goals to recruit more workers from underrepresented groups, BBC News understands.

The decision to abandon the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) recruitment targets comes after the company carried out an annual review of its corporate policies.

The technology giant is also reviewing some of its other DEI programmes.

Submission + - Another Consumer GPU Flop? Nvidia's RTX 5080 is Actually an RTX 5070 (techspot.com)

Submitted by jjslash
jjslash writes: Nvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 5080 is here, but there’s a catch—it’s not really an 80-class GPU argues TechSpot. Based on its hardware configuration, the RTX 5080 should be an RTX 5070, priced lower and offering the kind of generational leap gamers expect. Instead, Nvidia has shifted the goalposts, squeezing consumers with inflated prices while delivering underwhelming specs.

We looked at the hardware configurations in each class and compared them relative to the flagship of the era. This allowed us to create a "typical" Nvidia GPU generation – an average of what we saw over the last six generations. Now that we know for sure what the hardware of the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 is, we can slot this into the comparison and see how Nvidia's latest generation is stacking up.

Spoiler alert: it doesn't stack up well at all.

This summary of the six-generation average Nvidia GPU configuration shows the issue perfectly. The GeForce RTX 5080 has a configuration that would normally sit around or slightly below the level of a 70-class GPU, yet the price is more in line with what is charged for a model between the 70 and 80-class. In effect, this makes the RTX 5080 a slightly worse-than-normal 70-class GPU in its hardware configuration, for which Nvidia is charging 70 Ti relative money. This mismatch between hardware configuration – which drives performance – and the price is why most reviewers and many people in the community feel Blackwell is an extremely underwhelming generation.

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