Latest News

Last updated 10 Apr, 06:06 PM

BBC News

EU airline industry warns of fuel shortages if Strait of Hormuz stays closed - The trade body for European airports said if the Strait of Hormuz did not open in the next three weeks, there could be shortages.

One dead after bus carrying British tourists crashes in Canary Islands, officials say - The vehicle fell from a height of 10m near the San Sebastián de La Gomera, according to Spanish news outlet El Mundo.

Man arrested after baby girl dies from dog bite - Two dogs seized from the same address have been destroyed, police say.

Prince Harry sued for defamation by charity Sentebale he co-founded - Prince Harry left the charity last year in an acrimonious dispute over how Sentebale was being managed.

Parents' fury at Army's delay to report missing son - L/Cpl Ryan Rudd was not reported missing until two weeks after he was last seen in Selby.

The Register

Microsoft's Copilot strategy is just more user abuse from Redmond, says Mozilla - Firefox maker warns old web tactics are now shaping AI at the expense of user choice Firefox-maker Mozilla is calling out Microsoft after Redmond said it would scale back some Copilot features in Windows, arguing the rollback shows the company pushed AI too far without enough regard for user choice.…

Electronics industry says FCC's foreign-made router policy is a bit of a mesh - Trade group warns onshoring demands will leave Americans stuck with older gear The Global Electronics Association (GEA) warns that the US ban on foreign-made network routers is impractical because few are made domestically, leaving consumers with little choice and delaying access to next-gen products, just as Wi-Fi 7 adoption should be ramping up.…

CPUID site hijacked to serve malware instead of HWMonitor downloads - Six-hour breach turned trusted links into a coin toss between legit tools and credential stealers Visitors to the CPUID website were briefly exposed to malware this week after attackers hijacked part of its backend, turning trusted download links into a delivery mechanism for something far less welcome.…

Amazon would rather shareholders did not look too closely at carbon footprint - Investors urged to reject proposal for more disclosure on whether AWS expansion risks climate goals Amazon's board of directors is urging shareholders to reject a proposal that would have the megacorp disclose more information on the impact of datacenters on its climate commitments.…

Suits won't quit AI spending, even if they can't prove it's working - Forget about investment value! Call it a 'strategic enabler for enterprise‑wide transformation,' says KPMG Most UK business leaders will keep AI at the top of their spending priorities, with 65 percent planning to maintain investment whether they see immediate measurable returns or not.…

New Scientist - Home

Quantum batteries could be charged by reversing time - Physicists have shown how time can effectively be reversed for some quantum systems, which would allow for new ways to harvest energy

The man who ruined mathematics - The incompleteness theorem is accepted as part of the mathematical canon today, but columnist Jacob Aron says it was a bombshell when Kurt Gödel first introduced it. Gödel’s seminal work directly contradicted one of the great minds of mathematics and limited the field forever

Physicists resolve a long-standing puzzle over the size of a proton - Two extremely precise experiments agree with a previously shocking measurement of just how big the proton is, which may help future searches for new particles

Chimpanzee group's violent rupture hints at evolutionary roots of war - Researchers who observed a murderous conflict unfolding in a once-unified group of wild chimpanzees say there are parallels with civil wars in human societies

Sci-fi show The Miniature Wife underwhelms – despite the big names - Elizabeth Banks stars as an author shrunk by her scientist husband Matthew Macfadyen in this major new series – but it fails to live up to its promise, finds Josh Bell

Hacker News

You can't trust macOS Privacy and Security settings - Comments

WireGuard makes new Windows release following Microsoft signing resolution - Comments

1D Chess - Comments

Industrial design files for Keychron keyboards and mice - Comments

Helium Is Hard to Replace - Comments

Slashdot

Google News Now Prominently Featuring Polymarket Bets - Futurism found that Google News is surfacing Polymarket betting pages alongside traditional news sources. "The bets often appear in the 'For you' section of Google News, which is tailored to a user's personal interests," the publication reports. "In one instance, it was even the very top result, as with this bet on the price of Bitcoin." From the report: In our testing, Polymarket bets are also showing up on the Google News home page. But links from the prediction market can pop up all over Google News, including in searches. In further tests, looking up "will ships transit the strait," referring to the Strait of Hormuz, returned numerous credible sources like Financial Times, The Guardian, and Reuters. Just below them, however, was a Polymarket bet on the number of ships that would be allowed to pass through the critical oil passageway. This doesn't appear to be an accident. When searching "Polymarket" in its search bar, Google News now allows users to choose it as a "source," directing them to a page that aggregates other Polymarket hits. It's not the only non-news site that's selectable as a source -- looking up "Reddit" and "X" offers the option, too -- but searching for "Kalshi," another prediction market and Polymarket's main competitor, doesn't give the option to use it as a source. [...] In light of all this, Polymarket appearing in Google News is a major victory for the prediction platform -- rubber-stamping its image as an authority on developing real-world events right alongside genuine real publishers of journalism. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Rolls Out Gmail End-To-End Encryption On Mobile Devices - Gmail's end-to-end encryption is now available on all Android and iOS devices, letting enterprise users send and read encrypted emails directly in the app without any extra tools. "This launch combines the highest level of privacy and data encryption with a user-friendly experience for all users, enabling simple encrypted email for all customers from small businesses to enterprises and public sector," Google announced in a blog post. BleepingComputer reports: Starting this week, encrypted messages will be delivered as regular emails to Gmail recipients' inboxes if they use the Gmail app. Recipients who don't have the Gmail mobile app and use other email services can read them in a web browser, regardless of the device and service they're using. [...] This feature is now available for all client-side encryption (CSE) users with Enterprise Plus licenses and the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on after admins enable the Android and iOS clients in the CSE admin interface via the Admin Console. Gmail's end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature is powered by the client-side encryption (CSE) technical control, which allows Google Workspace organizations to use encryption keys they control and are stored outside Google's servers to protect sensitive documents and emails. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

France's Government Is Ditching Windows For Linux - France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology. TechCrunch reports: In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to "regain control of our digital destiny" by relying less on U.S. tech companies. Amiel said that the French government can no longer accept that it doesn't have control over its data and digital infrastructure. The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Microsoft did not immediately comment on the news. [...] France's decision to ditch Windows comes months after the government announced it would stop using Microsoft Teams for video conferencing in favor of French-made Visio, a tool based on the open source end-to-end encrypted video meeting tool Jitsi. The French government said it also plans to migrate its health data platform to a new trusted platform by the end of the year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AI Is Coming for Car Salesmen - An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: An auto dealer software company is pitching AI-powered kiosks designed to replace car salesmen on showroom floors. Automotive News says the industry is "skeptical." But be honest -- would you really rather deal with the average car lot shark than a computer? Epikar, a South Korean company that cooks up digital management solutions for car dealers, has named its new AI invention the Pikar Genie. The idea is that customers can talk to this device, ask it product questions, and basically do everything you'd do with a car salesman except for actually closing the deal and signing paperwork. Renault, BMW, and Volvo are already using some Epikar products at South Korean dealerships, but this new customer-facing AI product is still in its infancy. AN reported that "Renault assigns three salespeople to its Seoul showroom enhanced with Epikar automation compared with six for other Renault showrooms in South Korea," according to Epikar CEO Bosuk Han. The company's now looking to expand into America and is apparently already testing its products at at least one dealership stateside. Car-dealer consultant Fleming Ford (Director of Strategic Growth at NCM Associates) said U.S. dealerships "aren't ready for fully automated showrooms." "The showroom isn't just where you buy a car," Automotive News quoted him saying. "It's where you decide who to trust to help you to choose the right car." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta Removes Ads For Social Media Addiction Litigation - Meta has started removing ads from law firms seeking clients for social media addiction lawsuits, just weeks after a jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark case involving harm to a young user. "Lawyers across the country now are seeking new plaintiffs, in the hopes of bringing a class action lawsuit that could result in lucrative verdicts," reports Axios. From the report: Axios has identified more than a dozen such ads that were deactivated today, some of which came from large national firms like Morgan & Morgan and Sokolove Law. Almost all of them ran on both Facebook and Instagram. Some also appeared on Threads and Messenger, plus Meta's Audience Network -- which distributes ads to thousands of third-party sites. One such ad read: "Anxiety. Depression. Withdrawal. Self-harm. These aren't just teenage phases -- they're symptoms linked to social media addiction in children. Platforms knew this and kept targeting kids anyway." A few of the ads still remain active, including some that were posted earlier today. "We're actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful." Read more of this story at Slashdot.