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An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Record: A German court has ruled that Meta must pay $5,900 to a German Facebook user who sued the platform for embedding tracking technology in third-party websites -- a ruling that could open the door to large fines down the road over data privacy violations relating to pixels and similar tools. The Regional Court of Leipzig in Germany ruled Friday that Meta tracking pixels and software development kits embedded in countless websites and apps collect users' data without their consent and violate the continent's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The ruling in favor of the plaintiff sets a precedent which the court acknowledged will allow countless other users to sue without "explicitly demonstrating individual damages," according to a Leipzig Regional Court press release. "Every user is individually identifiable to Meta at all times as soon as they visit the third-party websites or use an app, even if they have not logged in via the Instagram and Facebook account," the press release said. "This may very well be one of the most substantial rulings coming out of Europe this year," said Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen, the CEO of AesirX, a consultancy which helps businesses comply with data privacy laws. "$5,900 in damages for one visitor adds up quickly if you have tens of thousands of visitors, or even millions."

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Not even in the top 10, CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly tells employees

Comment Pat Gelsinger's tenure as Intel's chief executive was epitomized by his unwavering optimism and ambitious plan to return the ailing chipmaker to its former glory. His successor has no such delusions of grandeur.…

Russia's State Duma rejected legislation that would have legalized ethical hacking, citing national security concerns. Politicians worried that discovering vulnerabilities in software from hostile countries would require sharing those security flaws with foreign companies, potentially enabling strategic exploitation. The bill also failed to explain how existing laws would accommodate white-hat hacking provisions. Russia's Ministry of Digital Development introduced the proposal in 2022, with a first draft in 2023. Individual security researchers currently face prosecution under Russian Criminal Code for unauthorized computer access, while established cybersecurity companies can conduct limited vulnerability research.

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It could have the same headcount as 1960 by the end of the month

NASA senior staff are being offered the opportunity to leave voluntarily before the axes start swinging, and it seems likely that thousands will take the escape hatch.…

Google is rolling out photo-to-video generation in its Gemini app today, allowing paid subscribers to upload images and transform them into short AI videos using the company's Veo 3 model. The feature requires a subscription to Google's AI Pro plan at $20 per month for three daily video generations, or the $250 AI Ultra plan for five daily videos. Videos are limited to 720p resolution and eight seconds in length, taking several minutes to generate due to computational requirements.

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'Whether those files were allowed to go to Russia? I didn't ask'

A former ASML and NXP semiconductor engineer will spend three years in a Dutch prison after stealing secret chip technology from his employers and sharing it with Russia.…

Indeed and Glassdoor -- both owned by the Japanese group Recruit Holdings -- are cutting roughly 1,300 jobs as part of a broader move to combine operations and shift more focus toward AI. From a report: The cuts will mostly affect people in the US, especially within teams including research and development and people and sustainability, Recruit Holdings Chief Executive Officer Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba said in a memo to employees. The company didn't give a specific reason for the cuts, but Idekoba said in his email that "AI is changing the world, and we must adapt by ensuring our product delivers truly great experiences."

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Company mum on whether the site will be shuttered

IBM, which employees say stands for "I've Been Moved" due to frequent relocation directives, is moving research scientists from its Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, to its Silicon Valley Lab a few miles east.…

A new code aims to make it easy to figure out

The EU has a new set of AI regulations poised to take effect soon. While debate over them continues, Brussels has put out a handy guidebook to help companies make sense of what they can and cannot do. …

Mazda is redesigning the steering wheel controls in its new CX-5 to address potential safety concerns from its shift to touchscreen-based infotainment systems. The Japanese automaker developed what it calls "an all new steering wheel layout with physical buttons" that allow drivers to control critical vehicle functions without taking their hands off the wheel. Stefan Meisterfeld, Mazda's U.S. VP of operations, said the new steering wheel design goes beyond simple redundant shortcuts. The company is pairing the enhanced steering wheel controls with Google Assistant voice commands and a 15.6-inch central touchscreen that now houses audio and climate controls previously operated by physical dashboard buttons. Mazda had been the sole mainstream holdout against touchscreen infotainment systems, relying instead on a console-mounted dial. The steering wheel redesign represents the company's attempt to maintain its "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road" safety philosophy while adopting touchscreen technology that customer research indicated buyers wanted.

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A federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit that accused Apple, Visa and Mastercard of conspiring to suppress competition in the payments network market and inflate merchant transaction fees. U.S. District Judge David Dugan in Illinois ruled that merchants failed to provide sufficient evidence supporting claims that Apple illegally declined to launch a competing payment network to rival Visa and Mastercard. The lawsuit, filed by beverage retailer Mirage Wine & Spirits and other businesses representing thousands of merchants, alleged the payment networks paid Apple hundreds of millions of dollars annually to avoid competition. Dugan found the plaintiffs offered only "a slew of circumstantial allegations" but permitted them to amend their complaint.

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Projections are likely exaggerated, a new analysis from an environmental group says

Datacenters are slurping ever more energy to meet the growing demands of AI, but some estimates of future demand imply an increase in hardware that would be beyond the capacity of global chipmakers to supply, according to an environmental nonprofit.…

TraCSS is like an FAA for space, and it's slated for the chopping block

Space industry bigwigs have sent letters to Congressional leaders urging them not to eliminate funding for preventing space collisions, as requested in a budget proposal for FY 2026. …

Almost three-quarters of all solar and wind power projects being built globally are in China, says a new report that highlights the country's rapid expansion of renewable energy sources. From a report: China is building 510 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind projects, according to data from the Global Energy Monitor, a non-governmental organisation based in San Francisco. That compares with about 689GW under construction globally, GEM said. A rough rule of thumb is that a gigawatt can potentially supply electricity for about 1mn homes. "China is [...] leading the world in global renewable energy build-out," the report said. "It continues to add solar and wind power at a record pace." China's expansion of clean energy sources is important for efforts to fight climate change, given the country's dominant role in global manufacturing.

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Up to 25 instances for free, but only to play with

IBM's Linux subsidiary is offering a new way to get RHEL without paying, now with up to 25 instances.…

Swedish security service members who shared details of their running and cycling routes on fitness app Strava have been accused of revealing details of the prime minister's location, including his private address. Politico: According to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, on at least 35 occasions bodyguards uploaded their workouts to the training app and revealed information linked to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, including where he goes running, details of overnight trips abroad, and the location of his private home, which is supposed to be secret.

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US's emergency-warning infrastructure failed to prevent more than 100 deaths during flash flooding in Kerr County, Texas over the July 4 weekend, despite repeated warnings from the National Weather Service. At least 27 young campers and counselors died at Camp Mystic when the Guadalupe River surged during early morning hours. The alerts never reached residents who lacked cellphone service, had silenced notifications, or didn't carry phones with them. Similar communication failures occurred during recent Los Angeles wildfires and Maui blazes. Maui's outdoor sirens never sounded during 2023 wildfires when cellular networks failed. Nearly 30% of Texas residents opt out of wireless emergency alerts, the highest rate nationally. Rural officials often lack funding or permission to send alerts through broadcasters and cellphones. So what's going on? Federal, state and local authorities share responsibility for alerting citizens through multiple platforms, but the country's patchwork of digital and physical emergency-alert tools often lags behind rapidly developing weather events, WSJ argues. The Atlantic has a story that adds more color: It details how officials lack training in writing effective alerts, how messages like "move to higher ground" are meaningless without context, and how the absence of warning-coordination meteorologists creates communication gaps between weather services and local authorities.

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Gemini CLI integration is nice, but there's little polish in building apps from prompts

Google today unveiled updates to Firebase Studio at its Cloud Summit event in London, adding Gemini command-line interface (CLI) integration, initial Model Context Protocol (MCP) support, and "Agent Mode."…

Senators from both parties are preparing to challenge the Trump administration's proposed 24% cut to NASA's budget, with the Senate appropriations committee advancing a $24.9 billion allocation that matches the agency's 2025 funding levels. The bipartisan pushback directly contradicts President Donald Trump's budget request, which sought to slash NASA's science portfolio funding nearly in half and terminate dozens of operating and planned missions. "We rejected cuts that would have devastated NASA science by 47% and would have terminated 55 operating and planned missions," Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, said. The Senate bill allocates $7.3 billion for science programs. Senators also refused the administration's call to cancel the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule after their third flights, programs Trump's budget labeled "grossly expensive and delayed." "The bill reflects an ambitious approach to space exploration, prioritizing the agency's flagship program, Artemis, and rejecting premature termination of systems like SLS and Orion before commercial replacements are ready," said Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican.

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European Union officials unveiled new AI regulations on Thursday that require makers of the most powerful AI systems to improve transparency, limit copyright violations and protect public safety. The rules apply to companies like OpenAI, Microsoft and Google that develop general-purpose AI systems underpinning services like ChatGPT, which can analyze enormous amounts of data and perform human tasks. The code of practice provides concrete details about enforcing the AI Act passed last year, with rules taking effect August 2. EU regulators cannot impose penalties for noncompliance until August 2026. Companies must provide detailed breakdowns of content used for training algorithms and conduct risk assessments to prevent misuse for creating biological weapons. CCIA Europe, representing Amazon, Google and Meta, told New York Times the code imposes a disproportionate burden on AI providers.

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