Kalshi Offers $1 Billion for a Perfect March Madness Bracket—Just as Warren Buffett Did 12 Years Ago
Prediction‑market platform Kalshi is reviving Warren Buffett’s 2014 March Madness stunt by pledging a $1 billion prize for anyone who submits a perfect bracket to the 2026 NCAA men’s tournament. The odds of a flawless bracket remain astronomically low—roughly one in 9.2 quintillion—so Kalshi also guarantees a $2 million prize pool, allocating $1 million to the top bracket and $1 million to charity. The promotion mirrors Buffett’s employee contests, which have historically offered million‑dollar rewards but never paid the billion‑dollar headline. Kalshi’s campaign joins a wave of high‑profile brand tie‑ins with college basketball stars this season.
Google "Developing" Opt-Out of Generative AI Features in Search
Google announced it is developing a mechanism that lets website owners opt out of having their content used in generative AI features within Search. The move is part of a broader response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s proposed...
Act Fast: Kid-Friendly Volume-Limiting ANC Headphones From iClever Slashed to $34.99 (30% Off)
iClever has slashed its BTH20 kids‑friendly Bluetooth headphones to $34.99, a 30% discount. The model combines an 80 dBA volume limiter, active noise‑cancelling that cuts up to ~40 dB, and a rugged BPA‑free build designed for ages 3 and up. Battery life...
Governments’ Website Accessibility Deadline Is Fast Approaching
The Department of Justice’s new rule, effective April 30, requires all U.S. government agencies serving 50,000 or more residents to bring their websites into compliance with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards under Title II of the ADA. The mandate, introduced during the Biden...
Google Retires Several Legacy Ad Format Policies
Google announced that as of March 17 it is retiring several legacy ad format policies, including those governing form ads, image quality, responsive ads, and text ads. The removal reflects the migration of these older formats into newer, automated campaign...
New at Mouser: Digi Connect Sensor XRT-M for IoT, Industrial, Sensor, and Gateway Applications
Mouser Electronics has begun shipping Digi International’s new Digi Connect Sensor XRT‑M, a rugged LTE‑M cellular gateway designed for zero‑infrastructure IoT monitoring. The battery‑or‑solar powered device offers edge processing, cloud connectivity via Digi Axess, and IP68 protection for harsh environments. It...
Sierra Leone’s ‘Brokers of Citizenship’ Recognized in Digital Identification Project
An academic study highlights the crucial role of local “brokers of citizenship” in Sierra Leone’s digital ID rollout. These intermediaries—chiefs, teachers, justices of the peace, and document brokers—facilitate enrollment, verification, and updates for underserved populations. While they enable legal identity...
OCHIN, C3 Partner to Expand ACO Offerings for FQHCs
OCHIN and Community Care Cooperative (C3) have launched a joint accountable care organization (ACO) offering tailored for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). OCHIN will supply its Epic EHR platform and analytics, while C3 brings a suite of Medicare ACO services,...
Liquid Biopsy Method Uses Nanoparticle Raman Signals to Separate Two Lookalike Enzymes
RIKEN researchers have unveiled a microchip that uses silver‑nanoparticle‑enhanced Raman spectroscopy to detect ultra‑low concentrations of biomarkers in liquid biopsies. The platform delivers reproducible, quantitative Raman signals that can separate two nearly identical enzymes—acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase—something fluorescence methods struggle with....
Tesla Says FSD Was Off Before Cybertruck Crash — but the Video Tells a Different Story
A Tesla Cybertruck equipped with Full Self‑Driving (FSD) crashed into a concrete barrier on Houston’s 69 Eastex Freeway on August 18, 2025, after the autonomous system failed to navigate a sharp curve. Driver Justine Saint Amour disengaged FSD four seconds before impact, but the...
Wisk Aero Unveils Second Gen 6 Autonomous eVTOL Prototype
Wisk Aero, a Boeing subsidiary, has unveiled its second sixth‑generation autonomous eVTOL prototype, registered as N607WA. The full‑scale aircraft is slated for its inaugural flight within weeks, marking a critical milestone toward certification. Wisk maintains its roadmap to launch a...
TerraPower Commits $450M to Build Radioisotope Production Plant
TerraPower Isotopes is committing $450 million to build a cGMP‑compliant actinium‑225 manufacturing plant in Philadelphia, a move that will expand production capacity roughly twenty‑fold. The 250,000‑square‑foot facility, slated to begin output in 2029, will create 225 full‑time jobs and benefits from...
LEGO to Install Over 40,000 Solar Panels at Its First U.S. Factory
LEGO announced plans to build an 80‑acre solar park at its new $1.5 billion Virginia manufacturing complex, its first U.S. factory. The project will install over 30,700 ground‑mounted panels (22 MWp) and 10,080 rooftop panels (6.11 MWp), aiming to meet 100 % of the...
1Password Launches New Platform to Rein in Companies’ AI Agents
1Password unveiled its Unified Access Platform, a security layer designed to monitor and control AI agents within corporate environments. The solution automatically discovers AI‑driven tools, secures exposed credentials, and enforces continuous authorization. It also records every action taken by both...
Baltic Towers to Supply Baltica 2 Towers
Baltic Towers has signed a supply agreement with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy to provide the largest batch of offshore wind turbine towers for the Baltica 2 project. The 2027‑commissioned farm, co‑developed by Grupa PGE and Ørsted, will deliver power to roughly 2.5 million customers...
Ohio Citizens Tell Hyperscalers to Take Their Supersized Datacenters Elsewhere
Ohio residents have filed a petition to amend the state constitution, banning datacenters larger than 25 MW. The initiative, led by citizens in Adams, Brown and Clermont counties, collected roughly 1,800 signatures, surpassing the 1,000‑signature threshold to trigger a ballot measure....
Veriff, Prove, alongID Strengthen Executive Teams
Three digital‑identity leaders announced senior hires as enterprises pour capital into trust infrastructure. Veriff appointed Rob Brazier as Chief Product Officer to broaden its offering from pure ID verification to a continuous‑trust platform that includes biometric checks and reusable credentials....
Avantus Completes 159-MW Solar Project in Central Texas
Avantus and Toyota Tsusho America have completed the 159‑MW DC (125‑MW AC) Norton Solar Project in Runnels County, Texas, marking the latest addition to the state’s utility‑scale solar portfolio. Construction, which began in August 2024, was executed by Avantus with RES...
FDA Seeks to Encourage Fewer Animal Studies with New Draft Guidance
The FDA released a draft guidance that details how biopharma firms can validate non‑animal approaches for early‑phase toxicology and safety studies. The document encourages the use of in‑vitro assays, computational modeling, and other modern methods to replace traditional animal testing....
Telehouse Parent KDDI Acquires Office Site in London's Docklands Zoned for Data Center Expansion - Report
KDDI, the Japanese telecom group behind Telehouse, has agreed to buy the Republic campus in Tower Hamlets for roughly £250 million. The 483,000‑sq‑ft office site carries planning consent for a 376,000‑sq‑ft, 30 MW multi‑story data centre, directly adjacent to Telehouse’s existing Docklands...
EXoZymes’ Cell-Free Biomanufacturing Platform Gets Positive Feedback From Cayman Chemical
eXoZymes’ cell‑free biomanufacturing platform was independently run by Cayman Chemical at pilot scale, moving from a 1‑L test to a 100‑L reactor. The process produced over 500 g of pharma‑grade N‑trans‑caffeoyltyramine (NCT) with 99.6 % purity and maintained >99 % conversion despite pH...
Digital India Programme Resulted in 97 Percent Reduction in Data Cost per GB: Govt
India's Digital India programme, launched in 2015, has dramatically lowered data prices and expanded connectivity. Broadband subscriptions surged from 25 crore to 103 crore, a 400% increase, while mobile base stations grew to 2.95 million, achieving near‑universal village coverage. Average data usage per...
The AI Revolution Will Be Open-Sourced
At CES 2026 NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang argued that AI will only scale when open innovation extends to infrastructure. Kubernetes, long used for AI, is gaining first‑class support through Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) that reached GA in version 1.34. New...
Druva Delivers Critical Identity Intelligence?for Okta, Active Directory, and Entra ID
Druva launched Identity Resilience, extending its SaaS platform to protect identities across Okta, Microsoft Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID. The solution unifies protection, cyber‑recovery and threat detection, using a graph‑based engine called Dru MetaGraph to map relationships in real...
Want a Job at OpenAI? Take This Online Challenge Today
OpenAI announced the Model Craft Challenge, a global online competition designed to recruit its next generation of AI researchers. The multi‑round contest will test participants on real‑world problems such as Parameter Golf, where candidates build efficient small models under strict...
SMX Now: Learn How Brands Must Adapt for AI-Driven Search
Visibility now hinges on AI-driven search, not just rankings. SMX launches its monthly SMX Now webinar on April 1, featuring iPullRank experts Zach Chahalis, Patrick Schofield, and Garrett Sussman. They will unveil iPullRank’s Relevance Engineering (r19g) framework for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and an...
New Zealand’s Regulators Expand Open Banking Efforts
New Zealand’s financial regulators are extending their open‑banking agenda beyond the December rules, mandating standardized APIs that let approved fintechs access customer data with consent. The reforms aim to tighten security, curb screen‑scraping, and create a level playing field that...
Ransomware Gang Exploits Cisco Flaw in Zero-Day Attacks Since January
The Interlock ransomware gang has been leveraging a maximum‑severity remote code execution flaw (CVE‑2026‑20131) in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center since late January, giving them a 36‑day zero‑day window before Cisco’s public advisory on March 4, 2026. The exploit permits unauthenticated attackers...
How to Implement Just-in-Time (JIT) User Provisioning with SSO and SCIM
The article explains how Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning creates user accounts on‑the‑fly during SSO login, contrasting it with SCIM’s pre‑login API‑driven synchronization. JIT leverages SAML or OIDC attributes to eliminate manual onboarding, while SCIM offers full lifecycle management, including deprovisioning. Implementation...
A Number of US Cities Are Pulling the Plug on Flock Safety's AI Cameras
A wave of municipal backlash is forcing Flock Safety, the Atlanta‑based AI camera vendor valued at roughly $7.5 billion, to lose contracts in dozens of U.S. cities. In the past six months, 38 cities have terminated agreements, bringing the total to...
AMD Keeping Samsung Close Amid Memory Shortage
AMD has entered a strategic agreement with Samsung to secure next‑generation HBM4 memory amid a broader industry shortage. The partnership aims to lock in supply for AMD's upcoming AI‑focused GPUs, addressing concerns raised after the company warned of potential shortages...
Small Team, Big Game: How We Built Mr. Beast’s AI-Powered Puzzle in 27 Days
Salesforce built an AI‑powered puzzle for MrBeast’s $1 million game in just six weeks, handling over 275,000 registrations and processing 4.5 billion tokens. The team deployed 78 production orgs and engineered a multi‑org sharding architecture capable of 1.5 million concurrent users without downtime....
Japan Publishes New Guidelines for Flexible Solar Cell Installations
Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has issued new design and construction guidelines for flexible photovoltaic (PV) and perovskite solar installations, focusing on structural load, frameless mounting and flammability. The standards target low‑load rooftops and building walls...
MANUFACTURING & AUTOMATION eXCHANGE (MAX) DEBUTS NEXT WEEK IN NASHVILLE, SPOTLIGHTING THE FUTURE OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING IN THE SOUTHEAST
The Manufacturing & Automation eXchange (MAX) launches March 24‑26 in Nashville, bringing together the full manufacturing ecosystem to spotlight AI, robotics, and digital transformation in the fast‑growing Southeast. Produced by BNP Media, the event features six pre‑conference workshops, a two‑day...
Building the Next Generation of Data Centers: Where Industrial Expertise Meets Digital Urgency
Global data‑center spending is set to more than double by 2032, driven by AI and cloud workloads that could consume up to 8.6 % of national electricity by 2035. Traditional power and cooling architectures are reaching breaking points, prompting hyperscalers to...
Fortinet’s AI-Driven Defense for a Machine-Speed Era
At Fortinet Accelerate 2026, the company unveiled FortiOS 8.0 and previewed FortiSOC, its cloud‑delivered Security Operations Platform. The new OS adds AI‑aware controls, deep OCR‑based DLP, expanded SASE capabilities and built‑in post‑quantum cryptography to protect the growing shadow‑AI surface. FortiSOC consolidates...
9 New Faces for SATShow Week 2026
SATShow Week 2026 unveiled nine fresh leaders spanning investment, manufacturing, policy and operations, underscoring the event’s expanding GovMilSpace focus. Ellen Chang highlighted the need for terrestrial infrastructure financing, while Apex’s Ian Cinnamon disclosed a $400 million fundraising round to scale bus...
Palantir Integrates AI Into Stratospheric ISR Systems
Palantir Technologies has partnered with Ondas and World View Enterprises to build an AI‑driven, multi‑domain intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system that spans stratospheric balloons, autonomous drones and ground assets. The collaboration leverages Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform, World View’s high‑altitude...
SpaceX’s Starlink Asks Ofcom for Permission to Build Two New Earth Stations in London and Essex
SpaceX’s Starlink has applied to Ofcom for two new Ka‑band Earth stations—one in London’s Mulberry Wharf and another in Harlow, Essex—targeting early 2026 deployment. The company says its current gateway network is nearing capacity, forcing it to limit service to...
Industry Roundtable With ’10 Hottest’ Executives
A roundtable of leaders from Viasat, SpinLaunch, Voyager Technologies, ArkEdge Space and Planet highlighted three dominant themes for SATShow Week 2026: the rise of multi‑orbit and hybrid satellite networks, the growing importance of dual‑use space systems for defense and commercial...
LRZ Decommissions CoolMUC-3 Supercomputer After Almost Decade of Use
Germany’s Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) has retired its CoolMUC‑3 supercomputer after almost a decade of service. Deployed in 2017, the nine‑rack cluster housed Intel Xeon Phi processors and delivered roughly 400 teraflops for fluid‑dynamic research at Bavarian universities. It pioneered Megaware’s ColdCon...
SD Times News Digest: SmartBear BearQ, Chainguard Agent Skills — March 18, 2026
SmartBear unveiled BearQ, an autonomous QA system that explores how applications function and adapts to code changes, positioning it as a next‑generation alternative to brittle test scripts. The launch follows a SmartBear survey showing 90% of developers use AI coding...
Google Brings Vehicle Feeds to Search Campaigns
Google Ads now supports vehicle feed integration in Search campaigns, allowing automotive advertisers to pull inventory from Merchant Center into text ads. The update adds clickable assets that display make, model, price and images alongside standard ad copy. Users can...
What Are Test Hooks in AI-Native Development?
Test hooks attach existing test and lint commands to deterministic lifecycle events in AI coding agents such as Claude Code and Cursor. When the event fires, the command runs automatically and a non‑zero exit code blocks the agent, forcing an...
The Rise of Agentic Execution: Rocketlane CEO Srikrishnan Ganesan on AI’s Next Phase in Professional Services
Rocketlane has launched Nitro, the first agentic execution platform for professional services, enabling AI agents to perform repeatable implementation tasks such as configurations, data migrations, testing, and documentation. The platform promises up to a 50% reduction in delivery effort for...
Doba Adds Walmart Marketplace Integration for Drop Shipping Sellers
Doba announced a verified integration with Walmart Marketplace, using OAuth 2.0 to automate product listings, inventory syncing, and order processing. The connection replaces legacy APIs, reducing manual errors and ensuring compliance with Walmart’s strict performance standards. Walmart ranks #2 among U.S....
SBIR Reauthorization, a Top BIO Priority, Is Passed by Congress
Congress passed the reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs on March 17, securing five more years of federal seed funding for biotech startups. The bipartisan House vote was 345‑41 after a...
How CPAs Can Build Relevance with Continuous Upskilling
Artificial intelligence is reshaping accounting, turning routine tasks into data‑driven insights and raising expectations for analytical fluency. Jen Cryder of PICPA argues that continuous, forward‑looking upskilling is essential for CPAs to remain relevant and to convert technical expertise into strategic...
Generative AI Summit Austin, 2026
The Generative AI Summit Austin 2026 is announced by the AI Accelerator Institute, but full details are gated behind a membership portal. Prospective attendees must sign up or log in to view the agenda, speaker lineup, and registration information. The...
Blackwired’s ThirdWatch: Powering Operational Resilience with Cyber Intelligence
Blackwired’s ThirdWatch platform aims to transform cyber‑threat intelligence into actionable operational‑resilience insight for financial institutions. It addresses the systemic risk exposed by the 2023 MOVEit Transfer breach, where a single third‑party vulnerability compromised hundreds of firms. Leveraging Direct Threat Intelligence,...