Slashdot

· 2mo ago

Flock Cameras Are Being Destroyed Across the US https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/30/2045213/flock-cameras-are-being-destroyed-across-the-us?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Flock Cameras Are Being Destroyed Across the US - Slashdot

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: Surveillance cameras owned by Flock Safety have been cut down with electric saws in New York State, vandalized with paint in Oakland, California, and rammed with a truck in Idaho. Flock claims its services fight crime, but law enforcement agencies also use their ...

· 2mo ago

Codeberg Bans Cryptocurrency and LLM-Generated Code Projects https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/07/27/1842211/codeberg-bans-cryptocurrency-and-llm-generated-code-projects?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

developers.slashdot.org

· 1mo ago

New York City 911 System Missed 1,700 Calls Due To Software Update https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/28/2140220/new-york-city-911-system-missed-1700-calls-due-to-software-update?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

New York City 911 System Missed 1,700 Calls Due To Software Update - Slashdot

Longtime Slashdot reader belmolis writes: Part of New York City's 911 emergency system was offline from about 3:13 a.m. to 10 a.m. on August 18th due to a software update, according to Medical Daily. Of 5,659 calls to the Bronx call center during that period, about 1,700 calls connected but could no...

· 2mo ago

GOG Officially Expands Linux Support With Native Galaxy Client In Development https://linux.slashdot.org/story/26/08/02/2019202/gog-officially-expands-linux-support-with-native-galaxy-client-in-development?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

linux.slashdot.org

GOG Officially Expands Linux Support With Native Galaxy Client In Development - Slashdot

Long-time Slashdot reader pyroclast shared this report from Linux Journal: After years of requests from the Linux gaming community, GOG has officially confirmed that it is developing native Linux support for the GOG Galaxy launcher. The announcement marks one of the biggest shifts in the company's ...

· 2mo ago

Risks of Parkinson's Disease May Increase With Prolonged Exposure to Road Traffic Noise https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/07/24/2246224/risks-of-parkinsons-disease-may-increase-with-prolonged-exposure-to-road-traffic-noise?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

US Police Now Armed With Israeli Spy Vans Simulating Mobile Phone Towers https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/0541215/us-police-now-armed-with-israeli-spy-vans-simulating-mobile-phone-towers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

mobile.slashdot.org

· 2mo ago

Zilog Z80 8-Bit CPU Turns 50, Open-source Replacement Heads To Drop-in DIP40 Silicon https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/07/20/0046231/zilog-z80-8-bit-cpu-turns-50-open-source-replacement-heads-to-drop-in-dip40-silicon?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

hardware.slashdot.org

Zilog Z80 8-Bit CPU Turns 50, Open-source Replacement Heads To Drop-in DIP40 Silicon - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shared this report from Tom's Hardware: The Zilog Z80 has just turned 50 years old. This iconic 8-bit processor first went on sale in July 1976 and stayed in production for 48 years until Zilog, now a Littelfuse subsidiary, stopped accepting orders in June 2024. However, there...

· 2mo ago

Boosted by @GroupNebula563@mastodon.social

England Set To Eliminate Hepatitis C https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/08/11/0544250/england-set-to-eliminate-hepatitis-c?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

England Set To Eliminate Hepatitis C - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: England is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate hepatitis C, a dangerous virus that attacks the liver, figures show. The target of treating 80% of all known cases has already been met, and deaths from the virus have...

· 1mo ago

Stanford Economist Now Believes an AI Job Apocalypse Is Unlikely https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/08/22/211256/stanford-economist-now-believes-an-ai-job-apocalypse-is-unlikely?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Stanford Economist Now Believes an AI Job Apocalypse Is Unlikely - Slashdot

"There is still no sign of economy-wide job destruction," says economist Erik Brynjolfsson. Working with researchers at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Brynjolfsson has determined an AI "job apocalypse" is unlikely, reports the Washington Post, "even though it will likely impact entry-level jobs....

· 2mo ago

LibreOffice Once Again Slams Microsoft For Using 'Lock-In' With Office Files https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/20/0431217/libreoffice-once-again-slams-microsoft-for-using-lock-in-with-office-files?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Rogue Police Officers Have Turned Flock's Nationwide Camera Network Into a Stalking Tool https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/03/023205/rogue-police-officers-have-turned-flocks-nationwide-camera-network-into-a-stalking-tool?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Rogue Police Officers Have Turned Flock's Nationwide Camera Network Into a Stalking Tool - Slashdot

A woman found her police officer ex-boyfriend had used Flock's camera system 600 times to look up the location of her and her daughter, reports the Washington Post (Alternate URL here). (She found out through Have I Been Flocked, described as "a website that aggregates police search logs made avai...

· 2mo ago

Reddit Bans 11-Year Account for GPL Game Post, Testing the EU's DSA https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/11/0532213/reddit-bans-11-year-account-for-gpl-game-post-testing-the-eus-dsa?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Reddit Bans 11-Year Account for GPL Game Post, Testing the EU's DSA - Slashdot

Longtime Slashdot reader DF5JT writes: On July 26, I posted a single announcement in r/backgammon: GNU Backgammon for Android, GPLv3, the first standalone backgammon engine on F-Droid. Reddit's spam filter removed the post and permanently banned my 11-year, 30,000-karma account -- the result is pub...

· 2mo ago

EU Fines Google $1 Billion For Breaking Digital Antitrust Regulations https://search.slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/2034235/eu-fines-google-1-billion-for-breaking-digital-antitrust-regulations?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

search.slashdot.org

· 2mo ago

Group of Teen Hikers Relied on Google Maps. It Was a Disaster. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/01/0552202/group-of-teen-hikers-relied-on-google-maps-it-was-a-disaster?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Group of Teen Hikers Relied on Google Maps. It Was a Disaster. - Slashdot

"When a group of teenagers set out to hike British Columbia's famed Howe Sound Crest Trail in early July, Google Maps suggested the trek would take about five hours," reports SFGate. "Instead, the hike stretched deep into the night, leaving the group exhausted, dehydrated, injured and in need of ...

· 2mo ago

Instagram Is Now Banning Pickup Artists, Pranksters Who Use Meta Glasses https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/24/2212248/instagram-is-now-banning-pickup-artists-pranksters-who-use-meta-glasses?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Researchers Discover First Known Transmissible Cancer In Fish https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/0610239/researchers-discover-first-known-transmissible-cancer-in-fish?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

GM Is Quietly Becoming a Subscriptions Company https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/22/2010225/gm-is-quietly-becoming-a-subscriptions-company?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

GM Is Quietly Becoming a Subscriptions Company - Slashdot

"General Motors has been pulling a Tim Cook and boosting its software and subscription business," reports Business Insider. During the automaker's Tuesday earnings call, executives said they're increasingly leaning on software subscriptions like OnStar and Super Cruise to generate high-margin recurr...

· 2mo ago

Drinking 5 Cups of Coffee a Day Could Reduce Heart Risk https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/0053206/drinking-5-cups-of-coffee-a-day-could-reduce-heart-risk?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

developers.slashdot.org

Drinking 5 Cups of Coffee a Day Could Reduce Heart Risk - Slashdot

A new American Heart Association scientific statement concludes that up to about 400 milligrams a day, or roughly three to five cups of plain coffee, is safe for most adults and may be linked to lower risks of cardiovascular disease. The benefits appear to depend heavily on the source and preparatio...

· 2mo ago

Apple's 'Private Relay' Is Exposing Users' Real IP Addresses https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/05/1918253/apples-private-relay-is-exposing-users-real-ip-addresses?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Apple's 'Private Relay' Is Exposing Users' Real IP Addresses - Slashdot

Security researchers found that Apple's iCloud Private Relay can expose users' real IP addresses because some passkey-related requests bypass Safari and its proxy protections at the operating-system level. "In short: any website that supports, or pretends to support, passkeys can see the user's real...

· 2mo ago

IT Teams are Spending 11 Hours a Week on Cloud Connectivity Problems https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/08/02/2331237/it-teams-are-spending-11-hours-a-week-on-cloud-connectivity-problems?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

IT Teams are Spending 11 Hours a Week on Cloud Connectivity Problems - Slashdot

Researchers found enterprises are spending time troubleshooting cloud connectivity due to increased AI workloads, reports Computer Weekly. More than 400 IT and infrastructure decision-makers (US and UK) were surveyed for internet/cloud/AI exchange operator DE-CIX by market researchers Censuswide. ...

· 2mo ago

Catastrophic MoD Data Breach Caused By Lack of Training On Excel https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/30/1748239/catastrophic-mod-data-breach-caused-by-lack-of-training-on-excel?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Catastrophic MoD Data Breach Caused By Lack of Training On Excel - Slashdot

A UK parliamentary inquiry found that a catastrophic Ministry of Defense breach exposing 18,700 Afghans could have been prevented with basic Excel training, after an employee unknowingly shared a hidden worksheet containing their details. The Independent reports: The leak, in February 2022, exposed...

· 2mo ago

Google's Gemini Can Now Stomp Around as a Humanoid Robot https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/30/1655219/googles-gemini-can-now-stomp-around-as-a-humanoid-robot?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Google's Gemini Can Now Stomp Around as a Humanoid Robot - Slashdot

Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 combines vision, language, and action models to control multiple types of robots, including humanoids performing tasks such as organizing shelves, tying bags, and replacing lightbulbs. "It's another milestone in our path towards really getting towards what we call...

· 2mo ago

Claude Opus 5 Became Downright Ruthless When Tasked With Running a Vending Machine https://slashdot.org/story/26/07/29/2047205/claude-opus-5-became-downright-ruthless-when-tasked-with-running-a-vending-machine?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

slashdot.org

Claude Opus 5 Became Downright Ruthless When Tasked With Running a Vending Machine - Slashdot

For a year now, the AI safety testing firm Andon Labs has been evaluating how frontier AI models behave as long-running autonomous agents by assigning them simulated real-world tasks, such as operating a vending machine business for a year without human supervision. In the latest installment, the re...

· 2mo ago

Earth's Biggest Disasters Strike In a Hidden Pattern Every 27 Million Years https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/07/28/0047230/earths-biggest-disasters-strike-in-a-hidden-pattern-every-27-million-years?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Earth's Biggest Disasters Strike In a Hidden Pattern Every 27 Million Years - Slashdot

A new analysis of 89 major geological events over the past 260 million years found evidence that mass extinctions, volcanic eruptions, ocean crises, and other upheavals may cluster around a roughly 27.5-million-year cycle. The cause remains unknown, with possibilities ranging from mantle activity an...

· 2mo ago

A Missing Underscore Sent Innocent Man To Prison For 18 Months https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/28/0037231/a-missing-underscore-sent-innocent-man-to-prison-for-18-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

A Missing Underscore Sent Innocent Man To Prison For 18 Months - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months. A 2018 child-luring investigation, which began in Madison, Wisconsin, and eventually extended to Halifax, Canada, was based on a false pr...

· 2mo ago

AI-Equipped Garbage Trucks Could Soon Start Spying On People in the US https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/26/0536218/ai-equipped-garbage-trucks-could-soon-start-spying-on-people-in-the-us?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

entertainment.slashdot.org

· 2mo ago

Comic-Con 2026 Debuts Trailers for 'Coyote vs Acme' Movie, Plus 'Neuromancer' and 'Blade Runner 2099' Series https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/07/26/038200/comic-con-2026-debuts-trailers-for-coyote-vs-acme-movie-plus-neuromancer-and-blade-runner-2099-series?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Comic-Con 2026 Debuts Trailers for 'Coyote vs Acme' Movie, Plus 'Neuromancer' and 'Blade Runner 2099' Series - Slashdot

Big news from Comic-Con 2026: "Coyote vs. ACME" debuted its long-awaited final trailer. CNET calls it "an animation-meets-live-action story," with the Coyote catapulting into theaters this August 28. (The film began development back in 2018, but was shelved for a tax write-off in 2023 by Warner ...

· 2mo ago

Humans Can Learn To Echolocate In Just 10 Weeks, and It Rewires the Brain https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/07/24/021238/humans-can-learn-to-echolocate-in-just-10-weeks-and-it-rewires-the-brain?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Google Adds Selfie Video As a Log-In Option https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/24/0144247/google-adds-selfie-video-as-a-log-in-option?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Google Adds Selfie Video As a Log-In Option - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: You'll now be able to use selfie videos to log into your Google account. It has long been possible to log into Google using your face, via your phone's face unlock or if your passkey login uses biometrics for verification. This is yet another option...

· 2mo ago

Verisign Is Finally Bringing .web Domains To the Internet https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/0542238/verisign-is-finally-bringing-web-domains-to-the-internet?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

The Army Is Burning Through Its AI Tokens https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/22/179241/the-army-is-burning-through-its-ai-tokens?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Boosted by @tchambers@indieweb.social

Publishers Are Losing Google Traffic As AI Answers Replace Links https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/31/1639202/publishers-are-losing-google-traffic-as-ai-answers-replace-links?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Publishers Are Losing Google Traffic As AI Answers Replace Links - Slashdot

alternative_right shares a report from Axios: Google has basically stopped sending people to websites (including our site) for answers and information. Instead, it's using AI to answer them on its platform, in its words. Chartbeat data shared with Axios shows Google Search traffic to publishers fell...

· 2mo ago

Hacker Wipes Romania's Entire Land Registry Database https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/07/20/172249/hacker-wipes-romanias-entire-land-registry-database?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Microsoft Responds to LG Monitors Installing McAfee Ads On Windows https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/2137202/microsoft-responds-to-lg-monitors-installing-mcafee-ads-on-windows?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Typo-Squatting Scammers Con South Carolina Town Out of $545K https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/26/0138257/typo-squatting-scammers-con-south-carolina-town-out-of-545k?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Typo-Squatting Scammers Con South Carolina Town Out of $545K - Slashdot

It started with some underground utility work for the South Carolina town of Surfside Beach (population: 4,155). "Public records confirm that a payment of $545,598.30 was issued," according to a local news station — but the CEO of Wildcat Contractors "stated that the account that received the...

· 3w ago

To Enforce Its Proposed Social Media Ban for 450 Million Pre-Teens, EU Builds an Open Source App https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/20/0712211/to-enforce-its-proposed-social-media-ban-for-450-million-pre-teens-eu-builds-an-open-source-app?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

To Enforce Its Proposed Social Media Ban for 450 Million Pre-Teens, EU Builds an Open Source App - Slashdot

The European Commission "proposed on Thursday banning children under 13 from social media, with parent-supervised accounts until 15," reports Reuters. "Enforcement would rely on a tool Brussels built itself" — a free, open-source age verification smartphone app "that tells a platform wheth...

· 2mo ago

Startup Founders Urge Trump Not to Shut Off Chinese Open Weight AI https://slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/0623233/startup-founders-urge-trump-not-to-shut-off-chinese-open-weight-ai?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

slashdot.org

· 2mo ago

OpenAI Acknowledges GPT-5.6 May Accidentally Delete Files, Calls It 'Honest Mistake' https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/07/19/0129228/openai-acknowledges-gpt-56-may-accidentally-delete-files-calls-it-honest-mistake?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

developers.slashdot.org

OpenAI Acknowledges GPT-5.6 May Accidentally Delete Files, Calls It 'Honest Mistake' - Slashdot

"OpenAI has finally confirmed reports that its latest family of large language models can accidentally delete files," reports InfoWorld, "while stressing that such incidents are rare and should be viewed as 'honest mistakes.'" Reports of the flagship LLMs deleting files emerged shortly after the ...

· 2mo ago

An AI-Supervised Remote Exam Went So Badly That 58,000 Students Must Retake It https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/08/03/233245/an-ai-supervised-remote-exam-went-so-badly-that-58000-students-must-retake-it?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

An AI-Supervised Remote Exam Went So Badly That 58,000 Students Must Retake It - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Earlier this summer, nearly 160,000 applicants took the entrance exam for UNAM, Mexico's largest university. For the first time, they did it completely remotely, using a "lockdown" browser and AI-powered webcam proctoring software, over several ...

entertainment.slashdot.org

· 2mo ago

LG To Ban Residential Proxies From Smart TV Apps https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/07/22/0426218/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Hackers Are Exploiting Recently Patched WordPress Bugs, Putting Millions of Websites at Risk https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/20/234246/hackers-are-exploiting-recently-patched-wordpress-bugs-putting-millions-of-websites-at-risk?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

Anthropic's AI Used Fake Identities, Malware In Rogue Attack On GitHub Project https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/08/05/2157224/anthropics-ai-used-fake-identities-malware-in-rogue-attack-on-github-project?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Anthropic's AI Used Fake Identities, Malware In Rogue Attack On GitHub Project - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Routine cybersecurity testing of frontier AI models sparked a series of unexpected security incidents -- the most serious case arising when Anthropic's Mythos 5 model attempted to insert malicious code into an open source software application an...

· 2mo ago

Microsoft Tells Engineers 'Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For' https://slashdot.org/story/26/08/04/1833219/microsoft-tells-engineers-tokenmaxxing-is-not-what-we-are-optimizing-for?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

slashdot.org

Microsoft Tells Engineers 'Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For' - Slashdot

Microsoft is introducing AI token budgets for employees, making the cheaper GPT-5.6 its default internal model and telling engineers to focus on business results rather than maximizing AI usage. 404 Media reports: "As we accelerate our use of GitHub Copilot to deliver on our goals, we all need to b...

· 3w ago

The Brain Is Actually Two Completely Separate Organs https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/09/20/0451204/the-brain-is-actually-two-completely-separate-organs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

The Brain Is Actually Two Completely Separate Organs - Slashdot

"New research led by Stanford Medicine reveals that what we call the brain is two distinct organs that evolved independently over hundreds of millions of years," Stanford Medicine announced this week: The new research finding shows that the human brain consists of two ancient nervous systems cleve...

· 2mo ago

Dozens of Robotaxi Riders Are Falling Asleep, Sparking Frantic Calls For Emergency Services https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/19/236218/dozens-of-robotaxi-riders-are-falling-asleep-sparking-frantic-calls-for-emergency-services?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

Dozens of Robotaxi Riders Are Falling Asleep, Sparking Frantic Calls For Emergency Services - Slashdot

"If tired or wasted passengers fall asleep in a traditional taxi or rideshare, the driver can shout or shake them awake," reports Bloomberg. "Not so in a robotaxi..." Ditto Kasendar remembers soft music drifting from the robotaxi's speakers as he rode home late at night from a friend's birthday pa...

· 2mo ago

AI-Found Bugs Aren't Proving Any Easier to Exploit Despite the Hype https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/07/28/212240/ai-found-bugs-arent-proving-any-easier-to-exploit-despite-the-hype?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

AI-Found Bugs Aren't Proving Any Easier to Exploit Despite the Hype - Slashdot

AI-assisted vulnerability discovery has yet to produce the expected surge in real-world attacks: VulnCheck found that only 14 of 1,061 attributed discoveries, or 1.3 percent, had been exploited, which is "almost identical to the rate across all vulnerabilities in VulnCheck's dataset," reports The Re...

· 2mo ago

Facebook Offers a Verification System Certifying to Other Users That You're a Real Human https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/25/064249/facebook-offers-a-verification-system-certifying-to-other-users-that-youre-a-real-human?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

· 2mo ago

New Spinning Drone Hides In Plain Sight https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/02/220231/new-spinning-drone-hides-in-plain-sight?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

New Spinning Drone Hides In Plain Sight - Slashdot

To design invisible drones, researchers have tried camouflage, transparent materials and light-bending optical systems. But engineers at Northwestern University used "motion blur," which an announcement from the school notes is the effect that makes fast-spinning fans seem to disappear. "The drone...

· 2mo ago

'Grok Build' Coding Tool Open Sourced This Week, Promises to Respect Zero Data Retention https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/19/034258/grok-build-coding-tool-open-sourced-this-week-promises-to-respect-zero-data-retention?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

'Grok Build' Coding Tool Open Sourced This Week, Promises to Respect Zero Data Retention - Slashdot

Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX has open sourced the Grok Build CLI this week, reports The Register, "just days after researchers caught the AI tool scooping up users' entire repositories and uploading them to company-controlled cloud storage." That discovery had "gathered so much negative attention th...