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Paramount Penguin Linus Torvalds still uses a 2017 graphics card

As work picks up on the forthcoming Linux 6.17, many joystick-wigglers are shocked by its millionaire dev's positively ancient AMD graphics card.…

A Brussels court has issued an unusually broad site-blocking order targeting Internet Archive's Open Library alongside shadow libraries including Anna's Archive, Libgen, and Z-Library. The order, requested by publishing and author organizations, directs an unprecedented range of intermediaries to take action beyond traditional ISP blocks. Search engines, DNS resolvers, advertisers, domain name services, CDNs, hosting companies, and payment processors -- including Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services, PayPal, and Starlink -- must restrict access to the targeted sites. The court found "clear and significant infringement" in the ex parte proceeding.

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Our tests have shown there are ways to get around the promised security improvements

exclusive Microsoft Recall, the AI app that takes screenshots of what you do on your PC so you can search for it later, has a filter that's supposed to prevent it from screenshotting sensitive info like credit card numbers. But a The Register test shows that it still fails in many cases, creating a potential treasure trove for thieves.…

Spy vs. spy

China has accused US intelligence agencies of exploiting a Microsoft Exchange zero-day exploit to steal defense-related data and take over more than 50 devices belonging to a "major Chinese military enterprise" for nearly a year.…

BrianFagioli writes: Google is changing its mind about killing off all goo.gl short links. The company had originally planned to shut them down entirely by August 25, 2025. That decision sparked concern among developers, educators, journalists, and everyday users who rely on these links across the web. Now, just weeks before the deadline, Google is taking a softer approach. It turns out the company is only going to disable goo.gl links that haven't seen any activity since late 2024. If your link is still being used or clicked, it should keep working. This adjustment comes after what Google describes as community feedback.

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Appeals panel says Chocolate Factory abused its dominance in Android app distribution

A panel of judges has dismissed Google's appeal against an antitrust verdict over its Play Store business practices.…

Verizon has confirmed it will raise customer fees despite announcing a three-year price lock in April. The carrier said the "vast majority" of customers will see increases of "less than 30 cents." A Reddit thread cited by The Verge suggests the Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge will rise 28 cents to $3.78 per voice line, while data-only plan charges could increase $2.37 to $3.97 per line. The changes may take effect September 1.

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Major video game publishers have abandoned plans to sell new releases at $80 after initially signaling support for the elevated price point earlier this year, according to Bloomberg. Microsoft reversed course in late July, announcing The Outer Worlds 2 and other holiday titles including Call of Duty will sell for $70 instead of the previously planned $80. Take-Two Interactive's Borderlands 4 and Sony's Ghost of Yotei were also priced at $70 after initial $80 expectations. Electronic Arts said it will not adjust prices for the near future, with the upcoming Battlefield 6 selling for $70. Production costs have grown tenfold over the past decade while sales have not increased proportionally.

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Microsoft researchers have identified 40 occupations [PDF] with the highest exposure to AI, ranking jobs by how closely their tasks align with AI's current capabilities. The study analyzed 200,000 real-world conversations from Copilot users and compared AI performance against occupational data. Interpreters and translators top the list, followed by historians and passenger attendants. Customer service and sales representatives, comprising about 5 million U.S. jobs, also face significant AI competition. Knowledge workers performing computer, math, or administrative tasks showed high vulnerability, as did sales positions involving information sharing and explanation. The research found occupations requiring Bachelor's degrees demonstrate higher AI applicability than those with lower educational requirements. First, the top 10 least affected occupations by generative AI: 1. Dredge Operators 2. Bridge and Lock Tenders 3. Water Treatment Plant and System Operators 4. Foundry Mold and Coremakers 5. Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators 6. Pile Driver Operators 7. Floor Sanders and Finishers 8. Orderlies 9. Motorboat Operators 10. Logging Equipment Operators Now, the top 40 most affected occupations by generative AI:1. Interpreters and Translators 2. Historians 3. Passenger Attendants 4. Sales Representatives of Services 5. Writers and Authors 6. Customer Service Representatives 7. CNC Tool Programmers 8. Telephone Operators 9. Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks 10. Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs 11. Brokerage Clerks 12. Farm and Home Management Educators 13. Telemarketers 14. Concierges 15. Political Scientists 16. News Analysts, Reporters, Journalists 17. Mathematicians 18. Technical Writers 19. Proofreaders and Copy Markers 20. Hosts and Hostesses 21. Editors 22. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 23. Public Relations Specialists 24. Demonstrators and Product Promoters 25. Advertising Sales Agents 26. New Accounts Clerks 27. Statistical Assistants 28. Counter and Rental Clerks 29. Data Scientists 30. Personal Financial Advisors 31. Archivists 32. Economics Teachers, Postsecondary 33. Web Developers 34. Management Analysts 35. Geographers 36. Models 37. Market Research Analysts 38. Public Safety Telecommunicators 39. Switchboard Operators 40. Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary.

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Budget educational computing is now Google's game to lose

Microsoft is discontinuing support for its Windows 11 SE variant meant to compete with ChromeOS in the education space, leaving schools that chose Microsoft over Google in the lurch just four years after the cloud-based Windows variant was released. …

Financial Times: The UK's highest court has partially overturned a landmark motor finance judgment that threatened to leave banks on the hook for tens of billions of pounds in compensation for allegedly deceiving consumers with hidden commissions on car loans. The Supreme Court's decision has been keenly awaited by investors as well as millions of consumers who were poised to claim redress from the banks. The government has been considering legislation to limit the fallout. The controversy over car finance shot to prominence after a bombshell Court of Appeal judgment in October that awarded compensation to three people who claimed they were misled by banks concealing the payment of commissions to dealerships. The $58.3 billion car finance scandal centers on hidden commissions paid by lenders to car dealers who arranged loans without disclosing the payment amounts and terms to borrowers. Under discretionary commission arrangements, dealers received larger payments when they persuaded car buyers to accept higher interest rates on loans. The practice affected roughly 90% of new car purchases and many secondhand vehicles, potentially exposing millions of motorists to mis-selling.

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Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Bill Long said the agency will end its Direct File program after a limited pilot and one full filing season. From a report: President Donald Trump's massive spending and policy bill includes funding to research and "replace any direct e-file programs run by the Internal Revenue Service." Already, the program is "gone," Long said at a tax professional summit on July 28, Bloomberg Law reports. "You've heard of Direct File, that's gone," Long said. "Big beautiful Billy wiped that out. I don't care about Direct File. I care about direct audit."

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Microsoft has discontinued Windows 11 SE, its education-focused operating system designed for low-cost school PCs. The company confirmed that Windows 11 SE will not receive the upcoming version 25H2 update and support will end in October 2026, including security updates and technical assistance. Launched in 2021 as a Chrome OS competitor, Windows 11 SE featured artificial limitations like reduced multitasking capabilities and restricted app installation to create a simplified experience for students. The discontinuation leaves Microsoft without a dedicated lightweight Windows edition for the education market, where Chromebooks have gained significant popularity over the past decade.

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Company blames license violations and infrastructure changes for abrupt move

KubeSphere has become the latest service to abruptly yank an open source edition of a product, triggering outcry from users.…

Australia's spy chief has warned that defense workers are exposing themselves to foreign intelligence services through LinkedIn profiles that detail classified projects and security clearances. Director-General Mike Burgess said over 35,000 Australians on the platform indicate access to sensitive information, with 7,000 mentioning defense work and 400 listing involvement in the AUKUS nuclear submarine program. Foreign spies routinely scour professional networking sites posing as consultants and recruiters, Burgess said.

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Russian boffins searching for root cause in their segment of the outpost, former cosmonaut says

The International Space Station (ISS) is still leaking air from the Russian segment of the outpost despite efforts to eliminate the losses.…

Victims fear leak at Everglades Correctional Institution could lead to violent extortion

A data breach at a Florida prison has inmates' families concerned for their welfare after their contact details were allegedly leaked to convicted criminals.…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: It's a strange glimpse into the human mind: If you filter search results on Google, Bing, and other search engines to only include URLs from the domain "https://chatgpt.com/share," you can find strangers' conversations with ChatGPT. Sometimes, these shared conversation links are pretty dull — people ask for help renovating their bathroom, understanding astrophysics, and finding recipe ideas. In another case, one user asks ChatGPT to rewrite their resume for a particular job application (judging by this person's LinkedIn, which was easy to find based on the details in the chat log, they did not get the job). Someone else is asking questions that sound like they came out of an incel forum. Another person asks the snarky, hostile AI assistant if they can microwave a metal fork (for the record: no), but they continue to ask the AI increasingly absurd and trollish questions, eventually leading it to create a guide called "How to Use a Microwave Without Summoning Satan: A Beginner's Guide." ChatGPT does not make these conversations public by default. A conversation would be appended with a "/share" URL only if the user deliberately clicks the "share" button on their own chat and then clicks a second "create link" button. The service also declares that "your name, custom instructions, and any messages you add after sharing stay private." After clicking through to create a link, users can toggle whether or not they want that link to be discoverable. However, users may not anticipate that other search engines will index their shared ChatGPT links, potentially betraying personal information (my apologies to the person whose LinkedIn I discovered). According to ChatGPT, these chats were indexed as part of an experiment. "ChatGPT chats are not public unless you choose to share them," an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We've been testing ways to make it easier to share helpful conversations, while keeping users in control, and we recently ended an experiment to have chats appear in search engine results if you explicitly opted in when sharing." A Google spokesperson also weighed in, telling TechCrunch that the company has no control over what gets indexed. "Neither Google nor any other search engine controls what pages are made public on the web. Publishers of these pages have full control over whether they are indexed by search engines."

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NetCo is a no go amid ongoing 'strategic review' by co-parent Telefónica

Virgin Media has ditched plans to use its network infrastructure to create a UK national fixed line operator to rival BT's Openreach just 18 months after the project was made public.…

Kludge causing production outages

Oracle has come under fire for failing to fix a known issue with Windows instances on its cloud infrastructure (OCI).…