Latest News
Last updated 06 Feb, 11:56 AM
BBC News
Russian general shot several times in Moscow - Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev is a senior figure in the main directorate of Russia's military general staff.
We had sex in a Chinese hotel, then found we had been broadcast to thousands - A couple who stayed in Shenzhen discovered their intimate moments were filmed as spy-cam porn.
The stage is set for the greatest show on Earth - your essential guide to the Winter Olympics - The Winter Olympics opening ceremony takes place on Friday, and for the 16 days that follow many eyes of sport lovers worldwide will be focused on the Milan-Cortina Games.
Sir Elton calls press intrusion into his baby son 'truly sickening' - The musician says his privacy was breached in relation to health issues and the birth of his son.
US and Iran hold talks as fears of direct conflict continue - The US has built up its military presence in the Middle East in response to Iran's violent crackdown on protests.
The Register
Romanian rail workers accused of bribery turned to ChatGPT for legal tips - Corruption probe takes detour as staff facing trial reportedly asked AI if seat-blocking scams caused financial damage More than 30 Romanian railway employees accused of running a bribery and ticket resale racket allegedly tried to crowdsource their legal strategy from ChatGPT.…
Smartphones cleared for launch as NASA loosens the rulebook - Crew-12 and Artemis II astros may soon snap, shoot, and share from orbit NASA's Administrator has stated that smartphones will accompany the Crew-12 and Artemis II astronauts on their missions.…
DWP considers chatbot work coaches as AI-fueled job losses loom - Benefits system trials automation amid growing interest in universal basic income AI-pocalypse Britain's welfare system is experimenting with AI to manage Universal Credit claimants – even as evidence piles up that artificial intelligence may soon be pushing more people onto benefits in the first place.…
UK council digs deeper into capital assets to keep Oracle project afloat - West Sussex plans to triple use of property sales as ERP budget blows past original estimates In a budget-busting leap from SAP to Oracle, West Sussex County Council is trebling its raid on capital assets such as buildings to fund its "transformational" ERP project.…
Summer in Australia means beers, beaches, and bork - Supermarket printer error gets holiday off to a shabby start BORK!BORK!BORK! When this vulture excuses himself from The Register's Australian eyrie for a little rest and recreation, I first avoid pyromaniac birds and carnivorous koalas, before settling into a bucolic beach town to catch a few waves, read a few books, and tune out from the world of tech.…
New Scientist - Home
Moving inductions to early morning could shorten labour by 6 hours - By matching uterine contractions up with the body’s natural circadian rhythms, inducing labour in the early morning is linked to shorter labour and fewer emergency c-sections
Sebastião Salgado's stunning shots of the world's icy regions - The late photographer's work depicting some of the world's coldest places is collected in his new book Genesis
A new 'brief history' of the universe paints a wide picture - Nearly 40 years after Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, Sarah Alam Malik's epic exploration of the cosmos reflects a changed landscape around science in the 21st century, finds Alison Flood
Statins don't cause most of the side effects listed on their labels - A review of the evidence suggests that statins are no more likely than a placebo to cause most of the side effects listed on their labels
Five stunning images from the Close-up Photographer of the Year awards - An otherworldly coral, a very cute moth and an intricately beautiful mushroom are among the winners in the prize this year
Hacker News
A new bill in New York would require disclaimers on AI-generated news content - Comments
Claude Opus 4.6 - Comments
Invention of DNA "Page Numbers" Opens Up Possibilities for the Bioeconomy - Comments
GPT-5.3-Codex - Comments
Systems Thinking - Comments
Slashdot
Why This Is the Worst Crypto Winter Ever - Bitcoin has fallen roughly 44% from its October peak, and while the drawdown isn't crypto's deepest ever on a percentage basis, Bloomberg's Odd Lots newsletter lays out a case that this is the industry's worst winter yet. The macro backdrop was supposed to favor Bitcoin: public confidence in the dollar is shaky, the Trump administration has been crypto-friendly, and fiat currencies are under perceived stress globally. Yet gold, not Bitcoin, has been the safe haven of choice. The "we're so early" narrative is dead -- crypto ETFs exist, barriers to entry are zero, and the online community that once rallied holders through downturns has largely hollowed out. Institutional adoption arrived but hasn't lifted existing tokens like ETH or SOL; Wall Street cares about stablecoins and tokenization, not the coins themselves. AI is pulling both talent and miners toward data centers. Quantum computing advances threaten Bitcoin's encryption. And MicroStrategy and other Bitcoin treasury companies, once steady buyers during the bull run, are now large holders who may eventually become forced sellers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
CIA Has Killed Off The World Factbook After Six Decades - The CIA has shut down The World Factbook, one of its oldest and most recognizable public-facing intelligence publications, ending a run that began as a classified reference document in 1962 and evolved into a freely accessible digital resource that drew millions of views each year. The agency offered no explanation for the decision. Originally titled The National Basic Intelligence Factbook, the publication first went unclassified in 1971, was renamed a decade later, and moved online at CIA.gov in 1997. It served researchers, news organizations, teachers, students and international travelers. The site hosted more than 5,000 copyright-free photographs, some donated by CIA officers from their personal travel. Every page now redirects to a farewell announcement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Confirms AirDrop Sharing is Coming To Android Phones Beyond Pixels - Google's Quick Share-AirDrop interoperability, which has been exclusive to the Pixel 10 series since its surprise launch last year, is headed to a much broader set of Android devices in 2026. Eric Kay, Google's Vice President of Engineering for the Android platform, confirmed the expansion during a press briefing at the company's Taipei office, saying Google is "working with our partners to expand it into the rest of the ecosystem" and that announcements are coming "very soon." Nothing is the only OEM to have publicly confirmed it's working on support, though Qualcomm has also hinted at enabling the feature on Snapdragon-powered phones. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The European Commission Is Testing an Open Source Alternative To Microsoft Teams - The European Commission is preparing to trial a communications platform built on Matrix, the open source messaging protocol already used by the French government, German healthcare providers and European armed forces, as a sovereign backup to Microsoft Teams. Signal currently serves as the backup tool but has proven too inflexible for an organization the Commission's size, it said. The Matrix-based solution could also eventually connect the Commission to other EU bodies like the Parliament. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Court Rules That Ripping YouTube Clips Can Violate the DMCA - A federal court in California has ruled that YouTube creators who use stream-ripping tools to download clips for reaction and commentary videos may face liability under the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions -- a decision that could reshape how one of the platform's most popular content genres operates. U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi of the Northern District of California denied a motion to dismiss in Cordova v. Huneault, a creator-versus-creator dispute, finding that YouTube's "rolling cipher" technology qualifies as an access control measure under section 1201(a) even though the underlying videos are freely viewable by the public. The distinction matters because it separates the act of watching a video from the act of downloading it. The defense had argued that no ripping tools were actually used and that screen recording could account for the copied footage. Judge DeMarchi allowed the claim to proceed to discovery regardless, noting that the plaintiff had adequately pled the circumvention allegation. The ruling opens a legal avenue beyond standard copyright infringement for creators who want to go after rivals. Reaction channels have long leaned on fair use as a blanket defense, but plaintiff's attorney Randall S. Newman told TorrentFreak that circumventing copy protections under section 1201 is a separate violation unaffected by any fair use finding. Read more of this story at Slashdot.