Slashdot
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.
Neuroscientist's AI-Powered Startup Aims To Transform Human Cognition With Perfect, Infinite Memory
Former Harvard Medical School professor and neuroscientist Amir Kreiman, together with co‑founder Spandan Madan, launched Engramme, an AI startup that claims to give humans perfect, infinite memory by linking a personal "memorome" to large memory models. The platform promises automatic recall of any digital information without search, positioning itself as an "omniscient AI" that augments cognition. Engramme is reportedly in talks to raise about $100 million to scale the technology. The company frames the breakthrough as a "memory singularity" that could reshape every profession.
Crypto Billionaire Pardoned In Prison By Trump Just Wrote a Memoir
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, estimated by Forbes at $110 billion, has self‑published a 364‑page memoir titled Freedom of Money. The book recounts his rapid ascent in crypto, a four‑month California prison stint, and a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. Zhao details...
Latin America's Central Banks Establish Digital Payments Used By Hundreds of Millions
Latin America’s central banks have rolled out instant‑payment platforms that now serve hundreds of millions, highlighted by Brazil’s Pix reaching 175 million users. Argentina and Costa Rica have followed suit with their own digital systems, leveraging a clean‑slate infrastructure free of...
Judge Pauses Arizona's Prosecution of Kalshi, Bars Arizona From Regulating Prediction Markets
A U.S. District Judge in Arizona temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its gambling laws against prediction‑market operator Kalshi, halting a criminal arraignment. The ruling follows a lawsuit by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which argued that Kalshi’s event contracts...
Oxygen Made From Moon Dust For First Time
Blue Origin announced its Air Pioneer reactor can generate breathable oxygen from lunar regolith by applying an electric current, marking the first successful in‑situ oxygen extraction on the Moon. The compact system also liberates iron, aluminium and silicon, and would...
Researchers Build a Talking Robot Guide Dog to Help Visually Impaired People Navigate
Researchers at the State University of New York at Binghamton have unveiled a robotic guide dog that can hold simple back‑and‑forth conversations about navigation. By pairing a large language model with a navigation planner, the prototype can understand open‑ended requests,...
First US Newsroom Strike For AI Protections Staged by ProPublica's Journalists
ProPublica journalists, represented by the ProPublica Guild, staged a 24‑hour strike on Wednesday, marking the first U.S. newsroom walkout explicitly demanding safeguards against AI‑driven layoffs. About 150 union members picketed the New York headquarters, with coordinated pickets in Chicago and...
The AI RAM Shortage Is Also Driving Up SSD Prices
AI‑driven demand for RAM is spilling over into the SSD market, creating a sharp supply crunch. Consumer NVMe drives have surged in price since late 2025, with the WD Black 2TB jumping from $173 to $649 and Samsung’s 4TB 990 Pro...
Two-Week Social Media 'Detox' Erases a Decade of Age-Related Decline, Study Finds
A recent PNAS Nexus study of 467 adults, average age 32, found that a two‑week digital detox using the Freedom app halved daily screen time and produced cognitive gains comparable to reversing a decade of age‑related decline. Participants’ sustained attention...
The End of 'Star Trek'? Every Single Series Now Cancelled
ScreenRant reports that every Star Trek series has been cancelled, leaving the franchise without any active productions for the first time in nearly a decade. The fifth season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrapped filming in fall 2025, while...
EU Parliament Fails To Renew Loophole Allowing Tech Firms To Report Abuse
The European Parliament voted against extending a 2021 temporary carve‑out of the EU Privacy Act that let big‑tech platforms use automated tools to scan for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The exemption expired on April 3, leaving a legal gap where...
Little Snitch Comes To Linux To Expose What Your Software Is Really Doing
Little Snitch, the macOS network‑monitoring utility, is being ported to Linux. The prototype leverages eBPF for kernel‑level traffic interception and is built primarily in Rust with a web‑based interface that can monitor both local and remote machines. Early testing on...
Apple's Foldable iPhone Is 'On Track' To Launch In September
Apple is reportedly on track to unveil its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in September, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The launch could coincide with the non‑foldable models, though initial supply may be limited by the...
Iran Demands Bitcoin For Ships Passing Hormuz During Ceasefire
Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union announced that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz during a two‑week cease‑fire must pay a toll of $1 per barrel in Bitcoin. Ship owners must email cargo details, receive a...
Planet Labs Tests AI-Powered Object Detection On Satellite
Planet Labs successfully demonstrated artificial intelligence running directly on a satellite in orbit, using an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module to detect airplanes in an image of an airport captured at 500 km altitude. The onboard model processed the photo moments after...
Apple Faces 'Massive Dilemma' With Success of the MacBook Neo
Apple’s low‑cost MacBook Neo is selling faster than its supply of binned A18 Pro chips, which have a GPU core disabled to hit the 5‑core configuration. The shortage could exhaust the five‑to‑six‑million unit run before the next‑generation A19 Pro‑based model...
Supreme Court Wipes Piracy Liability Verdict Against Grande Communications
The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the $47 million contributory infringement verdict against broadband provider Grande Communications, sending the case back to the Fifth Circuit for review. The Court cited the recent Cox v. Sony decision, which raises the liability bar...
Testing Suggests Google's AI Overviews Tells Millions of Lies Per Hour
A New York Times analysis, aided by startup Oumi, evaluated Google’s AI Overviews using the SimpleQA benchmark of over 4,000 factual questions. The test showed a 91% accuracy rate after the Gemini 3 update, up from 85% with Gemini 2.5, meaning roughly...
New Revelations Reignite Crypto Scandal Involving Argentina's President Milei
Argentina's President Javier Milei, who championed the $Libra cryptocurrency last year, is now entangled in fresh allegations after phone logs revealed seven calls with the token's founder surrounding his viral X post. New documents also suggest Milei received regular payments...
Claude Code Leak Reveals a 'Stealth' Mode for GenAI Code Contributions - and a 'Frustration Words' Regex
A recent leak of over 500,000 lines of Claude Code’s source revealed several hidden features. The code includes a "stealth" mode that lets the AI make covert contributions to public repositories, an always‑on background agent, and a Tamagotchi‑style Buddy for...
Does Ubuntu Now Require More RAM Than Windows 11?
Canonical has raised Ubuntu 26.04 LTS's minimum system requirements to 6 GB of RAM, a 2 GB increase over the previous 4 GB baseline. The change reflects the growing resource demands of the GNOME desktop, modern browsers, and multitasking workloads rather than a...
America's CIA Recruited Iran's Nuclear Scientists - By Threatening To Kill Them
Former CIA operative Kevin Chalker disclosed that the agency ran a covert “Brain Drain” program to lure Iranian nuclear scientists with the promise of U.S. asylum, while threatening assassination if they refused. The operation, authorized by President George W. Bush,...
Before Webcomics: Selling Political Cartoons On BBSes In 1992
In 1992 Texas entrepreneur Don Lokke launched "telecomics," a series of political cartoons distributed via bulletin board systems (BBS) before the public web existed. His flagship strip, "Mack the Mouse," satirized rising taxes and the recession during the Clinton‑Bush‑Perot race,...
Are Employers Using Your Data To Figure Out the Lowest Salary You'll Accept?
MarketWatch highlights a growing practice called “surveillance wages,” where employers use personal data—such as payday‑loan history, credit‑card balances, and social‑media activity—to infer the lowest salary a candidate will accept. An audit of 500 AI‑driven labor‑management firms found that vendors serving...
No, AMD Is Not Buying Intel
An April 1st prank claimed AMD was buying Intel, but the story was a deliberate hoax. The satire resonated because AMD’s stock trades near $196 while Intel’s hovers around $41, and both shares rose after the article, spurred by analyst optimism....
Python Blood Could Hold the Secret To Healthy Weight Loss
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have identified a python‑derived metabolite, para‑tyramine‑O‑sulfate (pTOS), that spikes dramatically after the snakes eat and appears to suppress appetite. In mouse studies, high doses of pTOS triggered weight loss without the gastrointestinal side...
UFC-Que Choisir Takes Ubisoft To French Court Over the Crew Shutdown
Ubisoft abruptly shut down the online servers for The Crew, leaving owners with a non‑functional game. French consumer watchdog UFC‑Que Choisir filed a lawsuit in the Creteil Judicial Court, accusing Ubisoft of misleading buyers about the permanence of their purchase...
AI Can Clone Open-Source Software In Minutes
Researchers Dylan Ayrey and Mike Nolan unveiled malus.sh, an AI service that can recreate any open‑source project in minutes, outputting code that is marketed as legally distinct and free of copyleft obligations. The demonstration showed that artificial intelligence can perform...
Cloudflare Announces EmDash As Open-Source 'Spiritual Successor' To WordPress
Cloudflare unveiled EmDash, an open‑source platform marketed as a spiritual successor to WordPress, aiming to resolve chronic plugin‑security issues. Built from the ground up with AI‑assisted coding, EmDash is written entirely in TypeScript and adopts a server‑less, sandboxed architecture. The...
OnlyOffice Suspends Nextcloud Partnership For Forking Its Project Without Approval
OnlyOffice has terminated its eight‑year partnership with Nextcloud after the latter launched a fork called Euro‑Office without securing approval. OnlyOffice alleges the fork breaches its AGPL‑based license by omitting required attribution and branding, and accuses Nextcloud of poaching staff and...
Claude Code's Source Code Leaks Via Npm Source Maps
A security researcher uncovered the entire Claude Code repository after source maps in its npm package exposed a Cloudflare R2 bucket containing every file. The leak reveals a sophisticated architecture: a 40‑tool plugin system, a 46,000‑line query engine, multi‑agent “swarms”, an IDE...
Microsoft Plans To Build 100% Native Apps For Windows 11
Microsoft announced a new initiative to develop 100% native applications for Windows 11, led by Partner Architect Rudy Huyn. The program invites developers with strong product instincts, regardless of prior Windows experience, to build apps that run directly on the...
Rivian and Lucid Win Right to Sell Their EVs Directly to Buyers in Washington State
Rivian and Lucid have secured the right to sell electric vehicles directly to consumers in Washington State after a years‑long dispute with the dealer lobby. The state legislature approved a compromise that lifts the ban on direct sales, provided the...
'Project Hail Mary': Real Space Science, Real Astrophotography
Project Hail Mary has earned $300.8 million worldwide after just nine days, adding $54.1 million in its latest weekend across 86 markets. The film now ranks as Amazon MGM’s highest‑grossing release ever and posted the strongest opening for a non‑franchise movie in...
World's Smallest QR Code - Smaller Than Bacteria - Could Store Data for Centuries
Scientists at TU Wien and Cerabyte have fabricated a QR code only 1.98 square micrometers in size, visible solely with an electron microscope. Each pixel measures 49 nanometers, far below the wavelength of visible light, and the pattern is etched into ultra‑stable...
Do Emergency Microsoft, Oracle Patches Point to Wider Issues?
Microsoft and Oracle have each released emergency out‑of‑band patches this week, drawing attention to the fragility of enterprise update cycles. Microsoft’s KB5085516 fixes a sign‑in error that showed a “no internet” message for standard Microsoft accounts after the latest Patch...
Thousands of Americans Treated With Psilocybin in 2025
Psilocybin therapy is rapidly expanding across U.S. states, with Oregon reporting 5,935 patients in 2025 and Colorado opening its first regulated healing center. New Mexico is developing its own medical program while the federal government maintains prohibition. Scientific evidence shows...
Linux Maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman Says AI Tools Now Useful, Finding Real Bugs
Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah‑Hartman says AI‑driven code review has reached a tipping point, with real bug reports now surfacing across open‑source projects. In his own tests, AI generated 60 potential fixes, about one‑third of which were correct and two‑thirds...
OpenAI's US Ad Pilot Exceeds $100 Million In Annualized Revenue In Six Weeks
OpenAI's ChatGPT advertising pilot in the United States has reached an annualized revenue of $100 million after just six weeks, signaling strong early demand. Approximately 85 % of users are eligible to see ads, yet fewer than 20 % are exposed daily, indicating...
AV1's Open, Royalty-Free Promise In Question As Dolby Sues Snapchat Over Codec
Dolby Laboratories has filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc., alleging that the Snap app’s implementation of the AV1 video codec infringes Dolby’s patents. AV1, promoted by the Alliance for Open Media as an open, royalty‑free alternative to HEVC, is used...
Windows PCs Crash Three Times As Often As Macs, Report Says
Omnissa’s 2026 State of Digital Workspace report, based on global telemetry, finds Windows PCs crash 3.1 times more often than Macs and freeze 7.5 times more frequently. Windows devices are typically refreshed every three years, compared with five years for Macs, leading...
Apple Gives FBI a User's Real Name Hidden Behind 'Hide My Email' Feature
Apple complied with an FBI subpoena and revealed the real iCloud address behind a Hide My Email alias used in a threatening message to Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel. Court records show the alias peaty_terms_1o@icloud.com was...
Canada's Immigration Rejected Applicant Based On AI-Invented Job Duties
Canada’s immigration department rejected a health‑scientist applicant after its generative‑AI tool fabricated a job description that listed engineering duties unrelated to her immunology research. The department’s disclaimer noted the AI‑generated content was reviewed by an officer, but insisted the final...
Will AI Force Source Code to Evolve - Or Make It Extinct?
The article explores whether AI will drive the creation of programming languages optimized for large language models, sacrificing human readability for token efficiency. IEEE Spectrum’s Stephen Cass questions if future developers will prompt AI to generate intermediate code directly, bypassing...
GrapheneOS Refuses to Comply with Age-Verification Laws
GrapheneOS announced it will not implement age‑verification checks required by new regulations, keeping the OS usable without personal data. Brazil's Digital ECA law imposes fines up to $9.5 million for non‑compliance, putting pressure on OS providers. The project also revealed a...
Tech Leaders Support California Bill to Stop 'Dominant Platforms' From Blocking Competition
California lawmakers have introduced the BASED Act, a bill that would bar digital platforms with market capitalizations exceeding $1 trillion and more than 100 million U.S. monthly users from favoring their own products. The legislation, championed by state Rep. Scott Wiener and...
Millions Face Mobile Internet Outages in Moscow. 'Digital Crackdown' Feared
Since early March, Moscow’s 13 million residents have endured unprecedented mobile internet and cellular service outages, while Wi‑Fi remains functional. The Russian government attributes the restrictions to “security” concerns amid sophisticated Ukrainian cyber attacks, echoing similar blackouts in border regions and...
Juicier Steaks Soon? The UK Approves Testing of Gene-Edited Cow Feed
British regulators have approved the first gene‑edited crop for animal feed, allowing Golden Promise barley with increased fat content to be tested on cattle. The modified barley is designed to accelerate weight gain, boost milk production and cut methane emissions...
Intel, NVIDIA, AMD GPU Drivers Finally Play Nice With ReactOS
ReactOS announced that it now supports roughly 90 % of Windows XP and Server 2003 GPU drivers, thanks to the implementation of the Kernel‑Mode Driver Framework (KMDF) and Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) subsystems. Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD graphics drivers run reliably in...
50% of Consumers Prefer Brands That Avoid GenAI Content
Gartner’s October 2025 survey of 1,539 U.S. adults reveals that 50% of consumers prefer brands that steer clear of generative AI in advertising and promotional content. Trust concerns are rising, with 61% regularly questioning the reliability of online information and...
