news aggregator

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Microsoft has reportedly stopped giving Chinese companies proof-of-concept exploit code for soon-to-be-disclosed vulnerabilities following last month's SharePoint zero-day attacks, which appear to be related to a leak in Redmond's early-bug-notification program. The software behemoth gives some software vendors early bug disclosures under its Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), which typically delivers info two weeks before Patch Tuesday. MAPP participants sign a non-disclosure agreement, and in exchange get vulnerability details so that they can provide updated protections to customers more quickly. According to Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy, who spoke with Bloomberg about changes to the program, MAPP has begun limiting access to companies in "countries where they're required to report vulnerabilities to their governments," including China. Companies in these countries will no longer receive "proof of concept" exploit code, but instead will see "a more general written description" that Microsoft sends at the same time as patches, Cuddy told the news outlet. "A leak happened here somewhere," Dustin Childs, head of threat awareness at Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), told The Register in July. "And now you've got a zero-day exploit in the wild, and worse than that, you've got a zero-day exploit in the wild that bypasses the patch, which came out the next day." Childs said the MAPP change "is a positive change, if a bit late. Anything Microsoft can do to help prevent leaks while still offering MAPP guidance is welcome." "In the past, MAPP leaks were associated with companies out of China, so restricting information from flowing to these companies should help," Childs said. "The MAPP program remains a valuable resource for network defenders. Hopefully, Microsoft can squelch the leaks while sending out the needed information to companies that have proven their ability (and desire) to protect end users."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Waymo has received its first permit from the New York City Department of Transportation to begin testing autonomous vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, marking the city's first official rollout of self-driving car trials. The program will initially deploy up to eight vehicles with safety drivers through late September, with the potential to extend and expand into other boroughs. CNBC reports: New York state law requires the company to have a driver behind the wheel to operate. "We're a tech-friendly administration and we're always looking for innovative ways to safely move our city forward," [Mayor Eric Adams] said in a release. "New York City is proud to welcome Waymo to test this new technology in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as we know this testing is only the first step in moving our city further into the 21st century." The news comes just two months after the company said it filed permits to test its cars in the city with a trained specialist behind the wheel. [...] As part of the permit, Waymo must regularly meet and report data to DOT and work closely with law enforcement and emergency services.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google has signed a six-year cloud computing deal with Meta worth over $10 billion, making it the second major partnership after a recent agreement with OpenAI. The deal will see Meta rely on Google Cloud's infrastructure to support its massive AI data center buildout, as the company ramps up capital spending into the tens of billions. The Information (paywalled) first reported the deal.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Datacenters' drinking habit exaggerated, claims report comparing apples to oranges

AI's drinking habit has been grossly overstated, according to a newly published report from Google, which claims that software advancements have cut Gemini's water consumption per prompt to roughly five drops of water — substantially less than prior estimates.…

Clean-energy growth helped China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fall by 1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, extending a declining trend that started in March 2024. From a report: The CO2 output of the nation's power sector -- its dominant source of emissions -- fell by 3% in the first half of the year, as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand. The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that record solar capacity additions are putting China's CO2 emissions on track to fall across 2025 as a whole. Other key findings include: The growth in clean power generation, some 270 terawatt hours (TWh) excluding hydro, significantly outpaced demand growth of 170TWh in the first half of the year. Solar capacity additions set new records due to a rush before a June policy change, with 212 gigawatts (GW) added in the first half of the year. This rush means solar is likely to set an annual record for growth in 2025, becoming China's single-largest source of clean power generation in the process. Coal-power capacity could surge by as much as 80-100GW this year, potentially setting a new annual record, even as coal-fired electricity generation declines. The use of coal to make synthetic fuels and chemicals is growing rapidly, climbing 20% in the first half of the year and helping add 3% to China's CO2 since 2020. The coal-chemical industry is planning further expansion, which could add another 2% to China's CO2 by 2029, making the 2030 deadline for peaking harder to meet.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft among major customers

Data I/O, a major electronics manufacturer whose customers include Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, notified federal regulators that it fell victim to a ransomware infection on August 16 that continues to disrupt its business operations.…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A lawyer representing the online message board 4chan says it won't pay a proposed fine by the UK's media regulator as it enforces the Online Safety Act. According to Preston Byrne, managing partner of law firm Byrne & Storm, Ofcom has provisionally decided to impose a 20,000-pound fine "with daily penalties thereafter" for as long as the site fails to comply with its request. "Ofcom's notices create no legal obligations in the United States," he told the BBC, adding he believed the regulator's investigation was part of an "illegal campaign of harassment" against US tech firms. "4chan has broken no laws in the United States -- my client will not pay any penalty," Mr Byrne said. Ofcom began investigating 4chan over whether it was complying with its obligations under the UK's Online Safety Act. Then in August, it said it had issued 4chan with "a provisional notice of contravention" for failing to comply with two requests for information. Ofcom said its investigation would examine whether the message board was complying with the act, including requirements to protect its users from illegal content. "American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an email," law firms Byrne & Storm and Coleman Law wrote. "Under settled principles of US law, American courts will not enforce foreign penal fines or censorship codes. If necessary, we will seek appropriate relief in US federal court to confirm these principles." The statement calls on the Trump administration to intervene and protect American businesses from "extraterritorial censorship mandates."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Expect record-breaking temperatures to change the workplace, the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today in a new report. When workers don't have adequate protections from heat stress, their health and productivity suffer. It's a risk employers and lawmakers have to take more seriously if they want to keep workers safe and businesses prosperous, the agencies say. That means finding ways to adapt in a warming world, and paying close attention to groups that might be more vulnerable than others. [...] More than 2.4 billion people around the world -- 71 percent of the working population -- experience workplace heat stress, according to estimates from the ILO. Each year, 22.85 million occupational injuries and 18,970 fatalities are linked to excessive heat at work. The report also says that worker productivity falls 2-3 percent with every degree increase above 20 degrees Celsius in wet-bulb globe temperature, a measure that takes humidity and other environmental factors into account.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI researchers warn of uneven power usage associated with AI training, and propose possible fixes

Researchers at Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI have issued a call to designers of software, hardware, infrastructure, and utilities for help finding ways to normalize power demand during AI training.…

Bug fixes, message links, and hints of Exchange support in the pipeline

Mozilla-owned subsidiary MZLA has released a new version of the Thunderbird messaging client and shared details on the forthcoming paid Thunderbird Pro service.…

Europe's share of global economic output has fallen from 33% to 23% since 2005 while its space launch capacity has nearly collapsed, launching just four rockets this year compared to over 100 for the United States and 40 for China. The continent's economic stagnation spans 15 years -- likely the longest streak since the Industrial Revolution according to Deutsche Bank calculations -- with Germany's economy growing just 1% since late 2017 versus 19% US growth. Per capita GDP gaps have widened dramatically: $86,000 annually in the US versus $56,000 in Germany and $53,000 in the UK. Industrial electricity costs have become prohibitive, running three times higher in Germany and four times higher in the UK than American rates. "America innovates, China imitates, Europe regulates," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni observed. The continent's largest company by market value, SAP, now ranks just 28th globally. Further reading: The Technology Revolution is Leaving Europe Behind.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

But it's just a test, as NYC still doesn't allow driverless for-hire cars

Waymo robotaxis are set to return to the streets of New York City after a four-year absence. But with a list of caveats longer than a Midtown bagel shop brunch line, Waymo's return isn't something for pedestrians to get nervous about yet. …

Health details, tax ID numbers, even images of checks were stolen, reportedly by the Interlock gang

Ransomware scum breached kidney dialysis firm Davita's labs database in April and stole about 2.4 million people's personal and health-related information.…

President Donald Trump said on Friday the U.S. would take a 10% stake in Intel under a deal with the struggling chipmaker and is planning more such moves, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America. Reuters: The development follows a meeting between CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Trump earlier this month that was sparked by Trump's demand for the Intel chief's resignation over his ties to Chinese firms.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Just over 50 days until Microsoft pulls the plug

OneNote for Windows 10 is on the way out. On October 14, it will reach the end of the road support-wise, and anything left in it will become read-only.…

Latest ad for the T1 looks suspiciously like a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in a Spigen case

President Trump's personally branded wireless provider was supposed to have a "premium" Android smartphone – gold, of course – on the market by September, but it appears the mobile virtual network operator has yet to even settle on a design to steal.…

Organizations still using default Microsoft 365 email domains face severe throttling starting this October. The restrictions target the onmicrosoft.com domain that Microsoft 365 automatically assigns to new tenants, limiting external messages to 100 recipients per day starting October 15. Microsoft blames spammers who exploit new tenants for quick spam bursts before detection. Affected organizations must acquire custom domains and update primary SMTP addresses across all mailboxes -- a process that requires credential updates across devices and applications.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Launched in 1975, the probe outlived its 90-day mission by years and set the standard for Mars landings

It's been 50 years since NASA sent Viking 1 on a mission to Mars.…

Apple is in early discussions about using Google Gemini to power a revamped version of the Siri voice assistant, marking a key potential step toward outsourcing more of its artificial intelligence technology. From a report: The iPhone maker recently approached Alphabet's Google to explore building a custom AI model that would serve as the foundation of the new Siri next year, according to people familiar with he matter. Google has started training a model that could run on Apple's servers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The work is part of an effort to catch up in generative AI, a field where the company arrived late and then struggled to gain traction. Earlier this year, Apple also explored partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI, weighing whether Claude or ChatGPT could serve as Siri's new brain. Apple is still several weeks away from making a decision on whether to continue using internal models for Siri or move to a partner. And it hasn't yet determined who that partner may be.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CRLite, link previews, and a llama-shaped surprise for devs

Good news, everyone! The new version of Mozilla's browser now makes even more extensive use of AI, providing summaries of linked content and offering developers the ability to add LLM support to extensions.…