Latest News
Last updated 05 Mar, 08:27 PM
BBC News
PM stands by decision not to join strikes on Iran and sends more jets to Qatar - The PM said the best way forward was a "negotiated settlement with Iran where they give up their nuclear ambitions".
Iran's high-risk war strategy seems to centre on endurance and deterrence - Tehran's approach appears to rest on a belief it can absorb strikes longer than its adversaries sustain pain and costs, writes BBC Persian's Amir Azimi.
Iran school and nearby military base struck multiple times, satellite image reveals - Iranian authorities say the attack, which took place on Saturday, killed 168 people.
'We have been preparing': Why the boots on the ground in Iran could be Kurdish - Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in exile in northern Iraq tell the BBC they have plans to cross the border but deny already doing so.
Labour MP 'voluntarily suspends herself' amid China spy probe - Joani Reid said she had temporarily stood down from the party after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
The Register
Iran intelligence backdoored US bank, airport, software outfit networks - MOIS-linked MuddyWater crew has a new, custom implant An Iranian cyber crew believed to be part of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has been embedded in multiple US companies' networks - including a bank, software firm, and airport, among others - since the beginning of February, with more activity in the days following the US and Israeli military strikes, according to security researchers.…
Munificent 7 vow to spare US households from AI's rising energy costs - Bit tricky enforcing this. What's the penalty if they go up anyway? Seven of the top US AI companies and hyperscalers have officially agreed to protect American consumers from price hikes due to datacenter energy and infrastructure increases caused by the AI build boom.…
You can power a G-Wiz EV with 500 vapes, and this YouTuber proved it - You made a time machine vapemobile ... out of a Delorean G-Wiz? The world would be a better place if all of us were as willing to upcycle as aggressively as YouTuber Chris Doel, who has demonstrated that batteries from 500 disposable vapes can actually power one of the UK's most famous electric vehicles. …
Document Foundation urges EU to ditch Excel lock-in for cybersecurity law consultation - LibreOffice steward says Commish undermines its own standards by asking for feedback via Excel spreadsheet The Document Foundation has taken a swipe at the European Commission over its consultation on guidance for the EU's Cyber Resilience Act – because the feedback template is only available as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.…
Congress puts the ISS on life support until 2032, orders Moon base plan - Authorization Act seeks to keep lights on until commercial stations are ready The NASA Authorization Act of 2026 has been approved, and alongside a directive for NASA to establish a permanent Moon base, the legislation includes language extending the International Space Station to 2032.…
New Scientist - Home
How worried should you be about microplastics? - Microplastics have been found accumulating everywhere from our water to our body tissues, but many of the claims have come under fresh scrutiny. Chelsea Whyte cuts through the research to tell you whether you really need to worry
Just one dose of psilocybin relieves symptoms of OCD for months - Taking psilocybin – the psychedelic component of magic mushrooms – eased symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder among people who did not respond to conventional treatments, and the effects lasted at least several months
Two marsupials believed extinct for 6000 years found alive - Indigenous people in Papua, Indonesia, have helped scientists track down two animals that were thought to have gone extinct thousands of years ago: a relative of Australia’s greater glider and a palm-sized possum with a bizarre, elongated finger
Alzheimer’s may start with inflammation in the skin, lungs or gut - The Alzheimer’s field is being turned on its head as mounting evidence points to the disease beginning outside the brain many years before symptoms start. This may mean we have to totally rethink how we approach preventing and treating the condition
What to read this week: Poisonous People by Leanne ten Brinke - If up to 20 per cent of us really do score highly on traits related to psychopathy, we are going to need all the help offered by a compelling new book. Start by admitting your own dark traits, finds Sally Adee
Hacker News
GPT-5.4 - Comments
Wikipedia in read-only mode following mass admin account compromise - Comments
The Brand Age - Comments
Hardware hotplug events on Linux, the gory details - Comments
Pentagon Formally Labels Anthropic Supply-Chain Risk - Comments
Slashdot
OpenAI Releases New ChatGPT Model For Working In Excel and Google Sheets - OpenAI today released GPT-5.4, an upgraded ChatGPT model designed to be faster, cheaper, and more accurate for workplace tasks. The update also introduces tools that let ChatGPT work directly inside Excel and Google Sheets. Axios reports: GPT-5.4 is designed to be less error-prone, more efficient and better at workplace tasks like drafting documents, OpenAI said. The new model can create files in fewer tries with less back-and-forth than prior models, the company said. GPT-5.4 outperformed office workers 83% of the time on GDPval, an OpenAI benchmark measuring performance on real-world tasks across 44 occupations. The model can also solve problems using fewer tokens, OpenAI says -- which can translate to faster responses and lower costs. The company is also debuting OpenAI for Financial Services, a set of new tools that includes the version of ChatGPT that runs inside spreadsheets and new apps and skills within ChatGPT. Partners include FactSet, MSCI, Third Bridge and Moody's. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tim Sweeney Signed Away His Right To Criticize Google Until 2032 - As part of Epic's settlement with Google over the Play Store, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney agreed to stop criticizing Google's app store practices until 2032 and even publicly support the revised policies. The deal also prohibits Epic from pushing for further changes to Google's platform rules. The Verge reports: On March 3rd, he not only signed away Epic's rights to sue and disparage the company, he signed away his right to advocate for any further changes to Google's app store polices. He can't criticize Google's app store practices. In fact, he has to praise them. The contract states that "Epic believes that the Google and Android platform, with the changes in this term sheet, are procompetitive and a model for app store / platform operations, and will make good faith efforts to advocate for the same." He may even have to appear in other courts around the world to defend this deal with Google, and Google gets to make sure his public statements are supportive of the deal from here on out. And while Epic can still be part of the "Coalition for App Fairness," the organization that Epic quietly and solely funded to be its attack dog against Google and Apple, he can only point that organization at Apple now. "Google is opening up Android all the way with robust support for competing stores, competing payments, and a better deal for all developers. So, we've settled all of our disputes worldwide. THANKS GOOGLE!," Sweeney wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Calls OpenAI's Messaging Around Military Deal 'Straight Up Lies' - An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is not happy -- perhaps predictably so -- with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. In a memo to staff, reported by The Information, Amodei referred to OpenAI's dealings with the Department of Defense as "safety theater." "The main reason [OpenAI] accepted [the DoD's deal] and we did not is that they cared about placating employees, and we actually cared about preventing abuses," Amodei wrote. Last week, Anthropic and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) failed to come to an agreement over the military's request for unrestricted access to the AI company's technology. Anthropic, which already had a $200 million contract with the military, insisted the DoD affirm that it would not use the company's AI to enable domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry. Instead, the DoD -- known under the Trump administration as the Department of War -- struck a deal with OpenAI. Altman stated that his company's new defense contract would include protections against the same red lines that Anthropic had asserted. In a letter to staff, Amodei refers to OpenAI's messaging as "straight up lies," stating that Altman is falsely "presenting himself as a peacemaker and dealmaker." Amodei might not be speaking solely from a position of bitterness, here. Anthropic specifically took issue with the DoD's insistence on the company's AI being available for "any lawful use." [...] "I think this attempted spin/gaslighting is not working very well on the general public or the media, where people mostly see OpenAI's deal with the DoW as sketchy or suspicious, and see us as the heroes (we're #2 in the App Store now!)," Amodei wrote to his staff. "It is working on some Twitter morons, which doesn't matter, but my main worry is how to make sure it doesn't work on OpenAI employees." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon's Bahrain Data Center Targeted By Iran For US Military Support - Iranian state media said on Wednesday that it targeted Amazon's data center in Bahrain due to the company's support of the U.S. military. The drone strike that occurred on Sunday disrupted core cloud services and caused "prolonged" outages. Two data centers in the UAE were also damaged by drone strikes. CNBC reports: All of the facilities remain offline, according to the Amazon Web Services health dashboard. The attack in Bahrain was launched "to identify the role of these centers in supporting the enemy's military and intelligence activities," Iran's Fars News Agency said on Telegram. In addition to structural damage, the data centers also experienced power disruptions and some water damage after firefighters worked to put out sparks and fire. Some popular AWS applications experienced "elevated error rates and degraded availability" due to the incident. AWS advised cloud customers to back up their data, consider migrating their workloads to other regions and direct traffic away from Bahrain and the UAE. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
US Tech Firms Pledge At White House To Bear Costs of Energy For Datacenters - Major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta pledged at the White House to pay for new power generation and grid upgrades needed to support their rapidly expanding datacenters. The Guardian reports: The agreement is meant to help mitigate concerns that big tech's datacenters are driving up US electricity costs for homes and small businesses at a time the administration of Donald Trump is seeking to curb inflation. "This means that the tech companies and the datacenters will be able to get the electricity they need, all without driving up electricity costs for consumers," the president said at the pledge signing event. "This is a historic win for countless American families and we'll also make our electricity grid stronger and more resilient than ever before." The so-called "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" was first announced by Trump in his State of the Union address, and comes as communities and state legislators increase scrutiny of rapidly proliferating datacenters. Datacenters consume vast amounts of electricity to run server racks and cooling systems for the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence. "Some datacenters were rejected by communities for that, and now I think it's going to be just the opposite," Trump said, referencing cancelled or postponed projects in recent months across several states after local opposition. The pledge includes a commitment by technology companies to bring or buy electricity supplies for their datacenters, either from new power plants or existing plants with expanded output capacity. It also includes commitments from big tech to pay for upgrades to power delivery systems and to enter special electricity rate agreements with utilities. The effort is aimed at drawing support from towns and cities that otherwise oppose the projects, said the Trump official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Read more of this story at Slashdot.