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Space is hard, especially for racks of fragile computer equipment

opinion William Gibson's Neuromancer holds up well after 40 years. One of the cyberpunk novel's concepts was an AI housed in an orbital datacenter (ODC) above the Earth. Today, startup companies and venture capital firms are hoping to turn orbital datacenters into reality to enable AI, believing that free power from the sun and cooling using the emptiness of space will unlock the technology from its terrestrial-based shackles of electric bills and cooling water.…

An Argentine captured naked in his yard by a Google Street View camera has been awarded compensation by a court after his bare behind was splashed over the internet for all to see. From a report: The policeman had sought payment from the internet giant for harm to his dignity, arguing he was behind a 6 1/2-foot wall when a Google camera captured him in the buff, from behind, in small-town Argentina in 2017. His house number and street name were also laid bare, broadcast on Argentine TV covering the story, and shared widely on social media. The man claimed the invasion exposed him to ridicule at work and among his neighbors. Another court last year dismissed the man's claim for damages, ruling he only had himself to blame for "walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home." Google, for its part, claimed the perimeter wall was not high enough.

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If you've ever logged into a network on your laptop or phone, the password is still there

hands-on You're at a place you've been before and your Windows laptop immediately remembers the SSID and password for the Wi-Fi network, logging you on automatically. But your phone, tablet, and your coworker's laptop have never been here before, so they can't connect. If only you remembered the password or had it written down somewhere.…

Domain Name System Security Extensions has achieved only 34% deployment after 28 years since publication of the first DNSSEC RFC, according to Internet Society data that labels it "arguably the worst performing technology" among internet enabling technologies. HTTPS reaches 96% adoption among the top 1,000 websites globally despite roughly the same development timeline as DNSSEC. The security protocol faces fundamental barriers including lack of user visibility compared to HTTPS padlock icons and mandatory implementation throughout the entire DNS hierarchy. Approximately 30% of country-level domains have not implemented DNSSEC, creating deployment gaps that prevent domains beneath them from securing their DNS records.

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Too much of anything is bad for you, including faux-magical statistical models

There are numerous recent reports of people becoming too engaged with AI, sometimes to the detriment of their mental health.…

Private sector invited to colocate at legacy nuclear facilities

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has identified four sites where private sector firms will be invited to colocate datacenters and energy generation projects, in line with the Trump administration's goal to boost AI development in America.…

Job postings for entry-level roles requiring degrees have dropped nearly two-thirds in the UK and 43% in the US since ChatGPT launched in 2022, according to Financial Times analysis of Adzuna data. The decline spans sectors with varying AI exposure -- UK graduate openings fell 75% in banking, 65% in software development, but also 77% in human resources and 55% in civil engineering. Indeed research found only weak correlation between occupations mentioning AI most frequently and those with the steepest job posting declines. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed no clear relationship between an occupation's AI exposure and young worker losses between 2022-2024. Economists say economic uncertainty, post-COVID workforce corrections, increased offshoring, and reduced venture capital funding are likely primary drivers of the graduate hiring slowdown.

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The FreeBSD Laptop project continues – and plans to offer a very visible change

FreeBSD 15 is coming, maybe at the end of this year – and along with other improvements, it may finally offer the option of installing with a graphical desktop.…

Microsoft used China-based engineering teams to maintain cloud computing systems for multiple federal departments including Justice, Treasury, and Commerce, extending the practice beyond the Defense Department that the company announced last week it would discontinue. The work occurred within Microsoft's Government Community Cloud, which handles sensitive but unclassified federal information and has been used by the Justice Department's Antitrust Division for criminal and civil investigations, as well as parts of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Education. Microsoft employed "digital escorts" -- U.S.-based personnel who supervised the foreign engineers -- similar to the arrangement it used for Pentagon systems. Following ProPublica's reporting, Microsoft issued a statement indicating it would take "similar steps for all our government customers who use Government Community Cloud to further ensure the security of their data." Competing cloud providers Amazon Web Services, Google, and Oracle told ProPublica they do not use China-based support for federal contracts.

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Zuckercorp blames legal uncertainty under upcoming TTPA law

Meta has followed in Google's footsteps in deciding that pending EU political advertising regulations are so onerous to comply with that they're not even going to bother.…

Stanford Graduate School of Business students have publicly criticized their academic experience, telling Poets&Quants that outdated course content and disengaged faculty leave them unprepared for post-MBA careers. The complaints target one of the world's most selective business programs, which admitted just 6.8% of applicants last fall. Students described required courses that "feel like they were designed in the 2010s" despite operating in an AI age. They cited a curriculum structure offering only 15 Distribution requirement electives, some overlapping while omitting foundational business strategy. A lottery system means students paying $250,000 tuition cannot guarantee enrollment in desired classes. Stanford's winter student survey showed satisfaction with class engagement dropped to 2.9 on a five-point scale, the lowest level in two to three years. Students contrasted Stanford's "Room Temp" system, where professors pre-select five to seven students for questioning, with Harvard Business School's "cold calling" method requiring all students to prepare for potential questioning.

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A federal court has denied requests by Ryan Rothholz to dismiss or transfer an Activision lawsuit targeting his alleged Call of Duty cheating software operation. Rothholz, who operated under the online handle "Lerggy," submitted motions in June and earlier this month seeking to dismiss the case or move it to the Southern District of New York, but both were rejected due to filing errors. The May lawsuit alleges Rothholz created "Lergware" hacking software that enabled players to cheat by kicking opponents offline, then rebranded to develop "GameHook" after receiving a cease and desist letter in June 2023. Court filings say he sold a "master key" for $350 that facilitated cheating across multiple games. The hacks "are parasitic in nature," the complaint said, alleging violations of the game's terms of service, copyright law and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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Malicious code lurking in over 5,000 downloads, says Socket researcher

Developer freelancing platform Toptal has been inadvertently spreading malicious code after attackers broke into its systems and began distributing malware through developer accounts.…

Indian studio Eros International plans to re-release the 2013 Bollywood romantic drama "Raanjhanaa" on August 1 with an AI-generated alternate ending that transforms the film's tragic conclusion into a happier one. The original Hindi film, which starred Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor and became a commercial hit, ended with the protagonist's death. The AI-altered Tamil version titled "Ambikapathy" will allow the character to survive. Director Aanand L. Rai condemned the decision as "a deeply troubling precedent" made without his knowledge or consent. Eros CEO Pradeep Dwivedi defended the move as legally permitted under Indian copyright law, which grants producers full authorship rights over films. The controversy represents what appears to be the first instance of AI being used to fundamentally alter a completed film's narrative without director involvement.

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We say everything... just not the oldest hardware. Unix Epochalypse less than 13 years away

Venerable Linux distribution Debian is side-stepping the Y2K38 bug – also known as the Unix Epochalypse – by switching to 64-bit time for everything but the oldest of supported hardware, starting with the upcoming Debian 13 "Trixie" release.…

Under oath in French Senate, exec says it would be compelled – however unlikely – to pass local customer info to US admin

Microsoft says it "cannot guarantee" data sovereignty to customers in France – and by implication the wider European Union – should the Trump administration demand access to customer information held on its servers.…

College graduates across specialized fields are pursuing a new career path training AI models, with companies paying between $30 to $160 per hour for their expertise. Handshake, a university career networking platform, recruited more than 1,000 AI trainers in six months through its newly created Handshake AI division for what it describes as the top five AI laboratories. The trend stems from federal funding cuts straining academic research and a stalled entry-level job market, making AI training an attractive alternative for recent graduates with specialized knowledge in fields including music, finance, law, education, statistics, virology, and quantum mechanics.

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No, it will not turn you into a 10X programmer. In fact, it won't even transform you into a noob developer

Opinion Everyone loves the idea of magic. All you have to do is wave your hands, say a few words, and something new is born to the world. That works for Harry Potter, but it won't work for you. Vibe coding, the notion that you can build programs by telling an AI what you want the software to do, is pure fantasy.…

American Airlines Chief Executive Robert Isom criticized the use of AI in setting air fares during an earnings call, calling the practice "inappropriate" and a "bait and switch" move that could trick travelers. Isom's comments target Delta Air Lines, which is testing AI to help set pricing on about 3% of its network today with plans to expand to 20% by year-end. Delta maintains it is not using the technology to target customers with individualized offers based on personal information, stating all customers see identical fares across retail channels. US Senators Ruben Gallego, Richard Blumenthal, and Mark Warner have questioned Delta's AI pricing plans, citing data privacy concerns and potential fare increases. Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said his carrier also has no plans to use AI in revenue management or pricing decisions.

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CFO claims money being reinvested in sales and engineering staff

ServiceNow claims it is on course to realize $100 million in savings on its global headcount this year due to the internal implementation of AI.…