Latest News

Last updated 13 Mar, 09:36 AM

BBC News

Rescue operations under way after US refuelling plane crashes in Iraq - The US Central Command says rescue efforts are under way after a refuelling aircraft went down over western Iraq.

UK economy saw zero growth in January ahead of Iran war - Analysts had been expecting 0.2% growth for the UK economy at the beginning of the year.

Winners, Sinners and record breakers: 17 fun facts about this year's Oscars - Sinners, Marty Supreme, Hamnet and One Battle After Another are among the films in contention this year.

Oil price profiteering will not be tolerated, says Miliband - Ed Miliband says the competition watchdog is primed to intervene if firms use the oil price shock to "rip off" customers.

How long will the cold weather last? - Friday feels noticeably colder. Helen Willetts explains why there's been a change in temperature and looks at how long it may last.

The Register

Blustering Blackbeard's PC was all at sea, sysadmin got him shipshape in seconds - Have you tried turning it on, never mind off and on again? On Call Arrr! How is it Friday already? The Register can't explain where the week went, but we can deliver a new installment of On Call, the reader-contributed column that shares your stories of tech support SNAFUs.…

AI Burning Man happens next week – here's what <i>The Register</i> expects at GTC 2026 - From Groq-ing about tokenomics to OpenClaw and the silicon that powers it, our predictions for the hottest ticket in town Nvidia has a bit of a problem. Popular generative AI workloads like code assistants and agentic systems generate massive quantities of tokens and need to move them at speed. But the GPU giant's chips currently struggle to deliver.…

Prince of PDFs, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, to step down after 18 years - Didn’t say why, but for once AI may not be the reason for a lost job Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has announced he intends to depart the company after 18 years as the prince of PDFs.…

Apple takes a bite out of app store fees in China - Beijing hinted it wasn’t happy with Cupertino, which weeks later made a change Apple has cut the fees it charges Chinese developers to sell their apps and other digital goodies.…

Pentagon AI chief praises Palantir tech for speeding battlefield strikes - Going from eight systems to one means fewer people make decisions to unleash Epic Fury As the US continues its strikes on Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, speakers at Palantir's AIPCON event on Thursday said the company’s Maven Smart System product has shortened the time it takes the Department of Defense to select and hit targets on the battlefield during the conflict.…

New Scientist - Home

The race to solve the biggest problem in quantum computing - The errors that quantum computers make are holding the technology back. But recent progress in quantum error correction has excited many researchers

We don’t know if AI-powered toys are safe, but they’re here anyway - Toys powered by AI show a worrying lack of emotional understanding. But we need to understand the risks and benefits of the technology so the industry can be regulated, not outright banned

How worried should you be about your BMI? - Body mass index (BMI) is used as a global standard for measuring health, but does it actually tell you anything about how healthy you are on an individual level? Carissa Wong explains the problems with this flawed tool

Can species evolve fast enough to survive as the planet heats up? - The story of a wildflower that adapted to a severe drought in California raises hopes that evolution will come to the rescue of species hit by climate change, but there are limits

Chemistry may not be the 'killer app' for quantum computers after all - Two popular quantum computing algorithms for problems in chemistry may have very limited use even as quantum hardware improves

Hacker News

Bucketsquatting Is (Finally) Dead - Comments

Willingness to look stupid - Comments

Executing programs inside transformers with exponentially faster inference - Comments

Malus – Clean Room as a Service - Comments

“This is not the computer for you” - Comments

Slashdot

London Man Wore Smart Glasses For High Court 'Coaching' - A witness in a London High Court case was caught using smart glasses connected to his phone to receive real-time coaching while giving evidence during cross-examination. "In my judgement, from what occurred in court, it is clear that call was made, connected to his smart glasses, and continued during his evidence until his mobile phone was removed from him," said Judge Raquel Agnello KC. "Not only have I held that Jakstys was untruthful in denying his use of the smart glasses and his calls to abra kadabra, but the effect of this is that his evidence is unreliable and untruthful." The BBC reports: The claim arose during a ruling by Judge Raquel Agnello KC in a case brought by Laimonas Jakstys over the directorship of a property development company that owns a flat in south-east London and land in Tonbridge. Jakstys was told to remove the glasses after the court noticed he "seemed to pause quite a bit" before answering questions, and that "interference" was heard coming from around the witness. The judge later found that he had been "assisted or coached in his replies to questions put to him during cross examination" during the January trial. Once the glasses were taken off, an interpreter was still translating a question when Jakstys' mobile phone began broadcasting a voice -- which he later blamed on Chat GPT. Agnello said: "There was clearly someone on the mobile phone talking to Jakstys. He then removed his mobile phone from his inner jacket pocket." He denied using the smart glasses to receive answers, and denied they were connected to his phone. But the judge said multiple calls had been made from his phone to a contact named "abra kadabra," whom he claimed was a taxi driver. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft Backs Anthropic To Halt US DOD's 'Supply-Chain Risk' Designation - joshuark shares a report from Reuters: Microsoft has filed an amicus brief on Tuesday in support of Anthropic's lawsuit asking the court to temporarily block the U.S. Department of Defense designation of the AI startup as a supply-chain risk. In an amicus brief filing in a federal court in San Francisco, Microsoft backed Anthropic's request for a temporary restraining order against the Pentagon order, arguing that its determination should be paused while the court considers the case. Microsoft, which integrates the AI lab's products and services into technology it provides to the U.S. military, said that it was directly impacted by the DOD designation. "Should this action proceed without the entry of a temporary restraining order, Microsoft and other government contractors with expertise in developing solutions to support U.S. government missions will be forced to account for a new risk in their business planning," the company said. Microsoft's filing argued the TRO is needed to prevent costly disruptions for suppliers, who would otherwise have to rapidly rebuild offerings that rely on Anthropic's products. The judge overseeing the case must approve Microsoft's request to file the brief before it is officially entered, but courts often permit outside parties to weigh in on important cases. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Chrome Is Finally Coming To ARM64 Linux - BrianFagioli writes: Google says it will finally release Chrome for ARM64 Linux in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the company's full browser to a platform that has existed for years without official support. Until now, Linux users running Arm hardware have largely relied on Chromium builds or unofficial packages if they wanted something close to Chrome. Google says the new build will include the same features found on other platforms, including Google account syncing, Chrome Web Store extensions, built-in translation, Safe Browsing protections, and Google Password Manager. The timing reflects how ARM hardware is becoming more common across the Linux ecosystem, from developer laptops to AI systems. Google also pointed to NVIDIA's DGX Spark, a compact AI supercomputing device built on the Grace Blackwell architecture, which will support installing Chrome through NVIDIA's package management tools. For many Linux users, the announcement feels like a "finally" moment, as ARM64 Linux systems have been widespread for years despite the absence of an official Chrome build. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Adobe CEO to Step Down After 18 Years - Shantanu Narayen announced he will step down as CEO of Adobe once a successor is appointed, ending an 18-year tenure during which he transformed the company from boxed software to the Creative Cloud subscription model. Narayen said he will remain board chair as Adobe continues pushing into generative AI products. CNBC reports: Narayen joined Adobe in 1988 as a vice president and general manager, and he became CEO in 2007. Under Narayen, Adobe pushed from software licenses to subscriptions to its Creative Cloud application bundle, and the company is now working to expand through generative artificial intelligence. He sought to acquire fast-growing design software company Figma, but regulators pushed back, and the companies called off the deal, resulting in Adobe paying Figma a $1 billion breakup fee. [...] Narayen, 62, is lead independent director of Pfizer in addition to his responsibilities at Adobe, where he received $51 million in total compensation for the 2025 fiscal year, according to a filing. He owns $118 million in Adobe shares, according to FactSet. [...] On Narayen's watch, Adobe's stock jumped more than sixfold, while the S&P 500 is up about 350% over that stretch. "What attracted me to Adobe 28 years ago was our leadership in creating new market categories, world-class products, a relentless desire to innovate in every functional area of the company and the people I met during the interview process," Narayen wrote. "We have continued to create new markets, deliver world-class products, drive innovation in everything we do and attract and retain the best and brightest employees." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple's MacBook Neo Makes Repairs Easier, Cheaper Than Other MacBooks - Apple's new MacBook Neo is "easier to repair than other modern MacBooks," according to Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham. It introduces a more repairable internal design that makes components like the battery and keyboard easier and cheaper to replace. An anonymous reader quotes an excerpt from the report: Replacements for pretty much any component in the Neo are simpler and involve fewer steps and tools than in the M5 MacBook Air. That includes the battery, which in the MacBook Air is attached to the chassis with multiple screws and adhesive strips but which in the Neo comes out relatively easily after you get some shielding and flex cables out of the way. But the most significant change in the Neo is that the keyboard is its own separate component. For essentially all modern MacBooks, going back at least as far as the late-2000s unibody aluminum MacBook designs, the keyboard has been integrated into the top part of the laptop case and is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to replace independently. [...] Apple hasn't yet listed MacBook Neo components in its parts store, but based on the repair prices it has announced, Neo components should cost quite a bit less than those for higher-end MacBooks. An out-of-warranty battery replacement for the Neo will cost $149, down from $199 for current Airs and $229 for current MacBook Pros; fixing accidental screen or external enclosure damage will cost AppleCare+ subscribers $49 for a Neo, down from $99 for other MacBooks. Read more of this story at Slashdot.