Latest News
Last updated 11 Feb, 05:02 PM
BBC News
PM says peer did not give 'full account' over links to sex offender - Sir Keir Starmer was asked at Prime Minister's Questions about his decision to award a peerage to Lord Doyle.
'It was terrifying': Tumbler Ridge's tight-knit community in shock after shooting - Members of the remote community have spoken of their fear and uncertainty after nine people were killed.
Brief sent by Andrew to Epstein included gold investments, file seen by BBC suggests - The briefing which includes "high value commercial opportunities" in Helmand province, appears in the Epstein files.
Watch: BBC in Tehran sees government's 'political reply' to massive protests - Lyse Doucet is in Iran for the first time since the crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests.
Dad unlawfully killed daughter in Texas shooting, coroner rules - Lucy Harrison had earlier argued with her father about Donald Trump, an inquest into her death heard.
The Register
Fukushima's radioactive hybrid terror pig boom was driven by amorous mothers - Genetic study finds domestic pigs’ year-round breeding sped gene flow into wild boar Back in 2021, in the thick of pandemic mania, The Register gleefully reported that "radioactive hybrid terror pigs" were thriving in Japan's Fukushima exclusion zone.…
Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 26H1, but you can't have it - No known issues, no .NET Framework 3.5, but only for new Snapdragon X2 hardware right now Microsoft has released Windows 11 26H1 but is warning the vast majority of users that it is not for them.…
Were telcos tipped off to *that* ancient Telnet bug? Cyber pros say the signs stack up - Curious port filtering and traffic patterns suggest advisories weren’t the earliest warning signals sent Telcos likely received advance warning about January's critical Telnet vulnerability before its public disclosure, according to threat intelligence biz GreyNoise.…
Brussels drafts blueprint to spot and swat rogue drones - Action Plan calls for EU-wide drills, industry forums, and expanded identification requirements The European Commission wants to see stronger EU-wide cooperation over malicious drones via a new action plan. Proposals include a central counter-drone test facility, changing the current rules governing civilian use, and a development boost to Europe's own drones and counter-drone systems.…
How Microsoft's legal eagles wrangled Happy Days for Windows 95 - Has the OS also jumped the shark? Microsoft's Raymond Chen has revealed an unexpected use for the company's lawyers: securing permission from the cast of Happy Days so a Weezer music video could ship on the Windows 95 CD.…
New Scientist - Home
How teaching molecules to think is revealing what a 'mind' really is - Networks of molecules in our body behave as though they have goals and desires. Understanding this phenomenon could solve the origins of life and mind in one fell swoop
This state’s power prices are plummeting as it nears 100% renewables - South Australia is proving to the world that relying largely on wind and solar energy with battery back-up is incredibly cheap, with electricity prices tumbling by 30 per cent in a year and sometimes going negative
First ever inhalable gene therapy for cancer gets fast-tracked by FDA - A gene therapy that patients breathe in has been found to shrink lung tumours by inserting immune-boosting genes into surrounding cells
Gravitational wave signal proves Einstein was right about relativity - Ripples in space-time from a pair of merging black holes have been recorded in unprecedented detail, enabling physicists to test predictions of general relativity
Newborn marsupials seen crawling to mother's pouch for the first time - Scientists have captured remarkable footage of the young of a mouse-sized marsupial, called a fat-tailed dunnart, making their way to their mother’s pouch soon after being born
Hacker News
Railway (PaaS) Global Outage - Comments
GLM-OCR: Accurate × Fast × Comprehensive - Comments
Why Vampires Live Forever - Comments
GLM-5: From Vibe Coding to Agentic Engineering - Comments
It's all a blur - Comments
Slashdot
HP Now Rents Gaming Laptops - HP has quietly launched a gaming laptop subscription service called the OMEN Gaming Subscription that lets customers pay a monthly fee to use one of several gaming laptops but never actually own the hardware, even after paying well past the machine's retail price. The service ranges from $50 a month for an HP Victus 15-inch laptop with an RTX 4050 to $130 a month for an Omen Max 16 with an RTX 5080. At current sale prices, subscribers would exceed the cost of buying the laptop outright within 16 to 19 months; at MSRP, that window stretches to roughly 25 months. In exchange for giving up ownership, subscribers get yearly hardware upgrades, next-day replacements, 24/7 support, and an ongoing warranty. There is a 30-day trial period, but cancelling in the second month triggers steep early termination fees -- $550 for the Victus 15 and $1,430 for the Omen Max 16. Cancellation becomes free only after the 13th month. HP also offers accessories like the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset as add-on rentals for $8 a month. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Sony Will Ship Its Final Blu-ray Recorders This Month - Sony will ship its last batch of Blu-ray recorders this month, according to Kyodo News, ending the company's decades-long run in a product category it helped create. The recorders targeted exclusively the Japanese domestic market, where households used them to record broadcast television. Sony had already stopped manufacturing the devices and recordable discs about a year ago, and the final shipments are clearing out remaining inventory. Kyodo attributes the segment's death to the rise of streaming services. Sony will continue selling Blu-ray players "for the time being." The broader Blu-ray ecosystem remains intact. Asus, LG, and Pioneer still produce PC drives in internal and external USB form factors. Panasonic and Verbatim continue manufacturing Blu-ray media. The format turned 20 last year, having debuted at CES 2006 -- one year before Netflix launched its streaming platform. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
T-Mobile Will Live Translate Regular Phone Calls Without an App - T-Mobile is opening registration today for a beta test of Live Translation, an AI-powered feature that will translate live phone calls into more than 50 languages when it launches this spring. The feature operates at the network level, so it doesn't require any specific app or device -- beta participants simply dial 87 to activate it on a call. T-Mobile President of Technology and CTO John Saw told The Verge that Live Translation works over VoLTE, VoNR and VoWiFi, meaning it isn't limited to 5G. The only requirement is that a T-Mobile customer must initiate the translation. The beta will be free, though T-Mobile has not said whether the feature will eventually be paywalled. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Moderna Says FDA Refuses To Review Its Application for Experimental Flu Shot - An anonymous reader shares a report: The Food and Drug Administration has refused to start a review of Moderna's application for its experimental flu shot, the company announced Tuesday, in another sign of the Trump administration's influence on tightening vaccine regulations in the U.S. Moderna said the move is inconsistent with previous feedback from the agency from before it submitted the application and started phase three trials on the shot, called mRNA-1010. The drugmaker said it has requested a meeting with the FDA to "understand the path forward." Moderna noted that the agency did not identify any specific safety or efficacy issues with the vaccine, but instead objected to the study design, despite previously approving it. The company added that the move won't impact its 2026 financial guidance. Moderna's jab showed positive phase three data last year, meeting all of the trial goals. At the time, Moderna said the stand-alone flu shot was key to its efforts to advance a combination vaccine targeting both influenza and Covid-19. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Discord Tries To Walk Back Age Verification Panic, Says Most Users Won't Need Face Scans - Discord has moved to calm a user backlash over its upcoming age verification mandate by clarifying that the "vast majority" of people will never be asked to confirm their age through a face scan or government ID. The platform said it will instead rely on an internal "age prediction" model that draws on account information, device and activity data, and behavioral patterns across its communities to estimate whether someone is an adult. Users whose age the model cannot confidently determine will still need to submit a video selfie or ID. Those not verified as adults or identified as under 18 will be placed in a "teen-appropriate" experience that blocks access to age-restricted servers and channels. The clarification came after users threatened to leave the platform and cancel Nitro subscriptions, and after a third-party vendor used by Discord for age verification suffered a data breach last year that exposed user information and a small number of uploaded ID cards. Read more of this story at Slashdot.