Latest News

Last updated 28 Jun, 04:43 PM

BBC News

Starmer says fixing welfare is a 'moral imperative' - The prime minister described the benefits system as "broken" a day after he was forced to U-turn on plans for reforms.

Southern Europe swelters as heatwave spreads - Spain, Italy and France are among the countries issuing warnings to protect health and stop wildfires.

Netanyahu claims victory over Iran – but polling shows many Israelis don't trust him - Israel's prime minister may be contemplating an early election, but he still faces corruption charges.

Carrie Johnson warns mums over dehydration from hospital bed - The wife of former PM Boris Johnson thanked the NHS after what she said was a "brutal" week for her and her new baby.

Celebrities descend on Venice Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's wedding - The festivities are expected to last three days, ending with a large party on Saturday.

The Register

Ex-NATO hacker: 'In the cyber world, there's no such thing as a ceasefire' - Watch out for supply chain hacks especially interview The ceasefire between Iran and Israel may prevent the two countries from firing missiles at each other, but it won't carry any weight in cyberspace, according to former NATO hacker Candan Bolukbas.…

How to get free software from yesteryear's IT crowd – trick code into thinking it's running on a rival PC - 'This is not a copyright message' Before plug and play was blowing up Windows 98 on a Comdex stage, Windows 95 engineers were grappling with the technology – and on one fateful day they found some unusual text in the BIOS of several PCs that they had to work around.…

Anthropic chucks chump change at studies on job-killing tech - $61B business offers $10K–$50K grants to assess AI’s job-market impact AI biz Anthropic is trying to recruit academics to find out exactly how much its technology could crater the jobs market.…

Crims are posing as insurance companies to steal health records and payment info - Taking advantage of the ridiculously complex US healthcare billing system Criminals masquerading as insurers are tricking patients and healthcare providers into handing over medical records and bank account information via emails and text messages, according to the FBI.…

Supremes uphold Texas law that forces age-check before viewing adult material - Over 18? Prove it The US Supreme Court has ruled that Texas' age certification law for viewing sexually explicit content is valid, meaning that viewers of such material will have to prove their age.…

New Scientist - Home

This daringly experimental thriller is a puzzle-lover's delight - Packed with puzzles and narrative threads, Matt Wixey's novel Basilisk is an exhilarating read that is hard to put down

At last, we are discovering what quantum computers will be useful for - Quantum computers have been hyped as machines that can solve almost any problem. Yet it is becoming clearer that their near-term utility will be narrower

X-ray boosting fabric could make mammograms less painful - A flexible fabric called X-Wear could replace some parts of medical scanners, which would make taking X-rays and CT scans far more comfortable and convenient

Mathematicians create a tetrahedron that always lands on the same side - With the help of powerful computers, researchers discovered a four-sided shape that naturally rests on one side, and built a real-life version from carbon fibre and tungsten

Why are the physical constants of the universe so perfect for life? - Conditions in our little pocket of the universe seem to be just right for life - and the much-debated anthropic principle forces us to wonder why

Hacker News

MCP: An (Accidentally) Universal Plugin System - Comments

We ran a Unix-like OS Xv6 on our home-built CPU with a home-built C compiler - Comments

Unheard works by Erik Satie to premiere 100 years after his death - Comments

Microsoft extends free Windows 10 security updates into 2026 - Comments

Parsing JSON in Forty Lines of Awk - Comments

Slashdot

X11 Fork XLibre Released For Testing On Systemd-Free Artix Linux - An anonymous reader shared this report from WebProNews: The Linux world is abuzz with news of XLibre, a fork of the venerable X11 window display system, which aims to be an alternative to X11's successor, Wayland. Much of the Linux world is working to adopt Wayland, the successor to X11. Wayland has been touted as being a superior option, providing better security and performance. Despite Fedora and Ubuntu both going Wayland-only, the newer display protocol still lags behind X11, in terms of functionality, especially in the realm of accessibility, screen recording, session restore, and more. In addition, despite the promise of improved performance, many users report performance regressions compared to X11. While progress is being made, it has been slow going, especially for a project that is more than 17 years old. To make matters worse, Wayland is largely being improved by committee, with the various desktop environment teams trying to work together to further the protocol. Progress is further hampered by the fact that the GNOME developers often object to the implementation of some functionality that doesn't fit with their vision of what a desktop should be — despite those features being present and needed in every other environment. In response, developer Enrico Weigelt has forked Xll into the XLibre project. Weigelt was already one of the most prolific X11 contributors at a time when little to no improvements or new features are being added to the aging window system... Weigelt has wasted no time releasing the inaugural version of XLibre, XLibre 25.0. The release includes a slew of improvements. MrBrklyn (Slashdot reader #4,775) adds that Artix Linux, a rolling-release distro based on Arch Linux which does not use systemd, now offers XLibre ISO images and packages for testing and use. They're all non-systemd based, and "Its a decent undertaking by the Artix development team. The iso is considered to be testing but it is quickly moving to the regular repos for broad public use." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

How a Crewless, AI-Enhanced Vessel Will Patrol Denmark's and NATO's Waters - After past damage to undersea cables, Denmark will boost their surveillance of Baltic Sea/North Sea waters by deploying four uncrewed surface vessels — about 10 meters long — that are equipped with drones and also AI, reports Euronews. The founder/CEO of the company that makes the vessels — Saildrone — says they'll work "like a truck" that "carries the sensors." And then "we use on-board sophisticated machine learning and AI to fuse that data to give us a full picture of what's above and below the surface." Powered by solar and wind energy, they can operate autonomously for months at sea. [Saildrone] said the autonomous sailboats can support operations such as illegal fishing detection, border enforcement, and strategic asset protection... The four "Voyagers" will be first in operation for a three-month trial, as Denmark and NATO allies aim at extending maritime presence, especially around critical undersea infrastructure such as fibre optic cables and power lines. NATO and its allies have increased sea patrolling following several incidents. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mercedes-AMG to Drop Four-Cylinder for Inline-Sixes and V-8s - "Mercedes-AMG is transitioning away from the four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain," reports Car and Driver, "and back towards the inline-six and V-8 powertrains more traditionally associated with the brand." That isn't to say that AMG had a change of heart concerning the merits of the four-cylinder powertrain, but rather that the automaker is responding to customer criticisms. "Technically, the four-cylinder is one of the most advanced drivetrains available in a production car. It's also right up there on performance. But despite this, it failed to resonate with our traditional customers. We've recognized that," a source at Mercedes told Autocar... Car and Driver also spoke with AMG chief Michael Schiebe at the reveal of the AMG GT XX electric concept car... Although the four-cylinder may be on its way out, Schiebe did say AMG remains committed to plug-in hybrids. "There are a lot of advantages of combining electric motors with combustion engines," Schiebe said. "We want to offer different kinds of drivetrain opportunities on the combustion side to our customers, so they can choose for whatever purpose they want to use the car." Much of the criticism of the C63 and GLC63's powertrain was focused on the lackluster sound when compared with the symphony of a V-8. The M139 drew our ire for sounding "reedy" and "buzzy" in our test of the current C63. The C63's hybrid system also brings the car's curb weight up to nearly 5000 pounds, meaning it didn't provide a meaningful performance boost over its V-8 predecessor despite offering significantly more horsepower.... AMG wouldn't confirm exactly when the four-cylinder will be phased out, telling Autocar that it will remain in production for the time being before "eventually" being replaced. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the news. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After 27 Years, Engineer Discovers How To Display Secret Photo In Power Mac ROM - An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, software engineer Doug Brown published his discovery of how to trigger a long-known but previously inaccessible Easter egg in the Power Mac G3's ROM: a hidden photo of the development team that nobody could figure out how to display for 27 years. While Pierre Dandumont first documented the JPEG image itself in 2014, the method to view it on the computer remained a mystery until Brown's reverse engineering work revealed that users must format a RAM disk with the text "secret ROM image." Brown stumbled upon the image while using a hex editor tool called Hex Fiend with Eric Harmon's Mac ROM template to explore the resources stored in the beige Power Mac G3's ROM. The ROM appeared in desktop, minitower, and all-in-one G3 models from 1997 through 1999. "While I was browsing through the ROM, two things caught my eye," Brown wrote. He found both the HPOE resource containing the JPEG image of team members and a suspicious set of Pascal strings in the PowerPC-native SCSI Manager 4.3 code that included ".Edisk," "secret ROM image," and "The Team." The strings provided the crucial clue Brown needed. After extracting and disassembling the code using Ghidra, he discovered that the SCSI Manager was checking for a RAM disk volume named "secret ROM image." When found, the code would create a file called "The Team" containing the hidden JPEG data. Brown initially shared his findings on the #mac68k IRC channel, where a user named Alex quickly figured out the activation method. The trick requires users to enable the RAM Disk in the Memory control panel, restart, select the RAM Disk icon, choose "Erase Disk" from the Special menu, and type "secret ROM image" into the format dialog. "If you double-click the file, SimpleText will open it," Brown explains on his blog just before displaying the hidden team photo that emerges after following the steps. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Canada Orders Chinese Firm Hikvision To Cease Canadian Operations Over National Security Concerns - The Canadian government has ordered Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer Hikvision to cease operations in Canada over national security concerns, Industry Minister Melanie Joly said late on Friday. From a report: Hikvision, also known as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co, has faced numerous sanctions and restrictions by Canada's neighbor, the United States, over the past five and a half years for the firm's dealings and the use of its equipment in China's Xinjiang region, where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population and other Muslim communities. "The government has determined that Hikvision Canada's continued operations in Canada would be injurious to Canada's national security," Joly said on X, adding that the decision was taken after a multi-step review of information provided by Canada's security and intelligence community." Read more of this story at Slashdot.