Anthropic's $200M Pentagon Contract at Risk Over Objections to Domestic Surveillance, Autonomous Deployments Talks "are at a standstill" for Anthropic's potential $200 million contract with America's Defense Department, reports Reuters (citing several people familiar with the discussions.") The two issues? - Using AI to surveil Americans - Safeguards against deploying AI autonomously The company's position on how its AI tools can be used has intensified disagreements between it and the Trump administration, the details of which have not been previously reported... Anthropic said its AI is "extensively used for national security missions by the U.S. government and we are in productive discussions with the Department of War about ways to continue that work..." In an essay on his personal blog, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned this week that AI should support national defense "in all ways except those which would make us more like our autocratic adversaries. A person "familiar with the matter" told the Wall Street Journal this could lead to the cancellation of Anthropic's contract: Tensions with the administration began almost immediately after it was awarded, in part because Anthropic's terms and conditions dictate that Claude can't be used for any actions related to domestic surveillance. That limits how many law-enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation could deploy it, people familiar with the matter said. Anthropic's focus on safe applications of AI — and its objection to having its technology used in autonomous lethal operations — have continued to cause problems, they said. Amodei's essay calls for "courage, for enough people to buck the prevailing trends and stand on principle, even in the face of threats to their economic interests and personal safety..." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Anthropic's+%24200M+Pentagon+Contract+at+Risk+Over+Objections+to+Domestic+Surveillance%2C+Autonomous+Deployments%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F2353221%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F2353221%2Fanthropics-200m-pentagon-contract-at-risk-over-objections-to-domestic-surveillance-autonomous-deployments%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Anthropic

Talks &#34;are at a standstill&#34; for Anthropic

at Slashdot.

Anthropic

Talks &#34;are at a standstill&#34; for Anthropic

Is Meta's Huge Spending on AI Actually Paying Off? The Wall Street Journal says that Meta "might be reaping some of the richest benefits from the AI boom so far." Meta's revenue grew 22% year over year in 2025 to $201 billion, and the company expects even bigger gains in the current quarter, potentially as high as 34%. That is huge growth for a company that brought in nearly $60 billion in the latest three-month period. And Zuckerberg signaled that Meta was just scratching the surface of AI's potential. "Our world-class recommendation systems are already driving meaningful growth across our apps and ads business. But we think that the current systems are primitive compared to what will be possible soon," he said on a call with investors and analysts... [Meta's Chief Financial Officer Susan] Li said the company doubled the number of graphics-processing units that it used to train its ad-ranking model in the fourth quarter and adopted a new learning architecture. Those actions led users to click on ads on Facebook 3.5% more often and to a gain of more than 1% in conversions, meaning purchases, subscriptions or leads, on Instagram, she said. Other AI-related improvements led to a 3% increase in conversions across its family of apps. On the ad-buying side, Meta has also been working toward using AI to automate ad creation for businesses that want to advertise their products or services on Facebook and Instagram. On the call, Li said the combined revenue run rate of video-generation tools hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter. In short, CNBC reported, Meta's stock price surged over 10% this week "after showing signs that AI investments are boosting the bottom line." Benjamin Black, an internet analyst at Deutsche Bank, explained the connection to the Wall Street Journal. "The more compute the ad platform gets, the far better it performs, and that's a real structural advantage that Meta has. If you can see that yesterday's spend is driving this month's growth, then as a good business person, you're going to continue to feed the beast." CNBC says now Meta "plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on its AI build-out this year. That's nearly double what it spent in 2025." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Is+Meta's+Huge+Spending+on+AI+Actually+Paying+Off%3F%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F2255206%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F2255206%2Fis-metas-huge-spending-on-ai-actually-paying-off%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Is Meta

The Wall Street Journal says that Meta &#34;might be reaping some of the richest benefits from the AI boom so far.&#34; Meta

at Slashdot.

Is Meta

The Wall Street Journal says that Meta &#34;might be reaping some of the richest benefits from the AI boom so far.&#34; Meta

Walmart Begins Building Out Nationwide EV Charging Network Across America Walmart, the world's largest retailer, will be adding spaces for electric vehicle charging to parking lots in 19 different states, reports MLive: The move follows up on a plan announced in 2023 to build a network of charging stations at Walmart and Sam's Club stores throughout the U.S... "With a store or club located within 10 miles of approximately 90% of Americans, we are uniquely positioned to deliver a convenient charging option that will help make EV ownership possible whether people live in rural, suburban or urban areas," wrote Walmart Senior Vice President of Energy Transformation, Vishal Kapadia in 2023. Walmart plans to have the nationwide network operating by 2030. Walmart plans to have the nationwide network operating by 2030. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Geoffrey.landis for sharing the news. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Walmart+Begins+Building+Out+Nationwide+EV+Charging+Network+Across+America%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F1959234%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F1959234%2Fwalmart-begins-building-out-nationwide-ev-charging-network-across-america%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Walmart Begins Building Out Nationwide EV Charging Network Across America - Slashdot

Walmart, the world

at Slashdot.

Walmart Begins Building Out Nationwide EV Charging Network Across America - Slashdot

Walmart, the world

When 20-Year-Old Bill Gates Fought the World's First Software Pirates Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Just months after his 20th birthday, Bill Gates had already angered the programmer community," remembers this 50th-anniversary commemoration of Gates' Open Letter to Hobbyists. "As the first home computers began appearing in the 1970s, the world faced a question: Would its software be free?" Gates railed in 1976 that "Most of you steal your software." Gates had coded the operating system for Altair's first home computer with Paul Allen and Monte Davidoff — only to see it pirated by Steve Wozniak's friends at the Homebrew Computing Club. Expecting royalties, a none-too-happy Gates issued his letter in the club's newsletter (as well as Altair's own publication), complaining "I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up." But freedom-loving coders had other ideas. When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released their Apple 1 home computer that summer, they stressed that "our philosophy is to provide software for our machines free or at minimal cost..." And early open-source hackers began writing their own free Tiny Basic interpreters to create a free alternative to the Gates/Micro-Soft code. This led to the first occurrence of the phrase "Copyleft" in October of 1976. Open Source definition author Bruce Perens shares his thoughts today. "When I left Pixar in 2000, I stopped in Steve Job's office — which for some reason was right across the hall from mine... " Perens remembered. "I asked Steve: 'You still don't believe in this Linux stuff, do you...?'" And Perens remembers how that movement finally won over Steve Jobs and carried the day. "Three years later, Steve stood onstage in front of a slide that said 'Open Source: We Think It's Great!' as he introduced the Safari browser, which at that time was based on the browser engine developed by the KDE Open Source project!" <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=When+20-Year-Old+Bill+Gates+Fought+the+World's+First+Software+Pirates%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F1915221%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F1915221%2Fwhen-20-year-old-bill-gates-fought-the-worlds-first-software-pirates%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

When 20-Year-Old Bill Gates Fought the World

Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Just months after his 20th birthday, Bill Gates had already angered the programmer community,&#34; r...

at Slashdot.

When 20-Year-Old Bill Gates Fought the World

Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Just months after his 20th birthday, Bill Gates had already angered the programmer community,&#34; r...

US Government Also Received a Whistleblower Complaint That WhatsApp Chats Aren't Private Remember that lawsuit questioning WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption? Thursday Bloomberg reported those allegations had been investigated by special agents with America's Commerce Department, "according to the law enforcement records, as well as a person familiar with the matter and one of the contractors." Similar claims were also the subject of a 2024 whistleblower complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the records and the person, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified out of concern for potential retaliation. The investigation and whistleblower complaint haven't been previously reported... Last year, two people who did content moderation work for WhatsApp told an investigator with Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security that some staff at Meta have been able to see the content of WhatsApp messages, according to the agent's report summarizing the interviews. [A spokesperson for the Bureau later told Bloomberg that investigator's assertions were "unsubstantiated and outside the scope of his authority as an export enforcement agent."] Those content moderators, who worked for Meta through a contract with the management and technology consulting firm Accenture Plc, also alleged that they and some of their colleagues had broad access to the substance of WhatsApp messages that were supposed to be encrypted and inaccessible, according to the report. "Both sources confirmed that they had employees within their physical work locations who had unfettered access to WhatsApp," wrote the agent... One of the content moderators who told the investigator she had access said she also "spoke with a Facebook team employee and confirmed that they could go back aways into WhatsApp (encrypted) messages, stating that they worked cases that involved criminal actions," according to the document... The investigator's report, dated July 2025, described the investigation as "ongoing," includes a case number and dubs the inquiry "Operation Sourced Encryption..." The inquiry was active as recently as January, according to a person familiar with the matter. The inquiry's current status and who may be the defined target are both unclear. Many investigations end without any formal accusations of wrongdoing... WhatsApp on its website says it does, in some instances, allow information about messages to be seen by the company. If someone reports a user or group for problematic messages, "WhatsApp receives up to five of the last messages they've sent to you" and "the user or group won't be notified," the company says. In those cases, WhatsApp says it receives the "group or user ID, information on when the message was sent, and the type of message sent (image, video, text, etc.)." Former contractors outlined much broader access. Larkin Fordyce was an Accenture contractor who the report says an agent interviewed about content moderation work for Meta. Fordyce told the investigator he spent years doing this work out of an Austin, Texas office starting as early as the end of 2018. He said moderators eventually were granted their own access to WhatsApp, but even before that they could request access to communications and "the Facebook team was able to 'pull whatever they wanted and then send it,'" the report states... The agent also gathered records that were filed in the whistleblower complaint to the SEC, according to his report, which doesn't describe the materials... The status of the whistleblower complaint is unclear. Some key points from the article: "The investigative report seen by Bloomberg doesn't include a technical explanation of the contractors' claims." "A spokesperson for Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, said the contractors' claims are impossible." One contractor "said that there was little vetting" of foreign nationals hired to do content moderation for Meta, saying this granted them "full access to the same portal to review" content moderation cases <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=US+Government+Also+Received+a+Whistleblower+Complaint+That+WhatsApp+Chats+Aren't+Private%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F037202%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F02%2F01%2F037202%2Fus-government-also-received-a-whistleblower-complaint-that-whatsapp-chats-arent-private%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

US Government Also Received a Whistleblower Complaint That WhatsApp Chats Aren

Remember that lawsuit questioning WhatsApp

at Slashdot.

US Government Also Received a Whistleblower Complaint That WhatsApp Chats Aren

Remember that lawsuit questioning WhatsApp

AI Use at Work Has Increased, Gallup Poll Finds An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press: American workers adopted artificial intelligence into their work lives at a remarkable pace over the past few years, according to a new poll. Some 12% of employed adults say they use AI daily in their job, according to a Gallup Workforce survey conducted this fall of more than 22,000 U.S. workers. The survey found roughly one-quarter say they use AI at least frequently, which is defined as at least a few times a week, and nearly half say they use it at least a few times a year. That compares with 21% who were using AI at least occasionally in 2023, when Gallup began asking the question, and points to the impact of the widespread commercial boom that ChatGPT sparked for generative AI tools that can write emails and computer code, summarize long documents, create images or help answer questions... While frequent AI use is on the rise with many employees, AI adoption remains higher among those working in technology-related fields. About 6 in 10 technology workers say they use AI frequently, and about 3 in 10 do so daily. The share of Americans working in the technology sector who say they use AI daily or regularly has grown significantly since 2023, but there are indications that AI adoption could be starting to plateau after an explosive increase between 2024 and 2025... A separate Gallup Workforce survey from 2025 found that even as AI use is increasing, few employees said it was "very" or "somewhat" likely that new technology, automation, robots or AI will eliminate their job within the next five years. Half said it was "not at all likely," but that has decreased from about 6 in 10 in 2023. A bar chart lists the sectors most likely to be using AI at their jobs: Technology (77%) Finance (64%) College/University (63%) Professional Services (62%) K-12 Education (56%) Community/Social Services (43%) Government/Public Policy (42%) Manufacturing (41%) Health Care (41%) Retail (33%) <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=AI+Use+at+Work+Has+Increased%2C+Gallup+Poll+Finds%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F31%2F2344202%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F31%2F2344202%2Fai-use-at-work-has-increased-gallup-poll-finds%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

AI Use at Work Has Increased, Gallup Poll Finds - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press: American workers adopted artificial intelligence into their work lives at a rem...

at Slashdot.

AI Use at Work Has Increased, Gallup Poll Finds - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press: American workers adopted artificial intelligence into their work lives at a rem...

The Bill Gates-Epstein Bombshell - and What Most People Get Wrong The Daily Beast: "Salacious claims from Jeffrey Epstein that Bill Gates contracted an STD following 'sex with Russian girls,' and colluded with the disgraced financier on a plot to secretly slip his wife antibiotics, were revealed in the latest Epstein files release." The New York Times. (Alternate URL) "A representative of the Gates Foundation said, 'These claims — from a proven, disgruntled liar — are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.'" And Yahoo News points out the error of social media posts about the news: None paid attention to who actually wrote the email. The email was from Epstein — to Epstein... Both the "From" and "To" fields list Epstein's personal Gmail address. The message appears to be a draft, written during a period when Epstein's relationship with Gates had deteriorated. In it, Epstein alleges that Gates asked him to delete messages related to an STD. But the document does not show Gates making that request, nor does it provide independent confirmation that any of the claims are true. It reads like Epstein venting. It is not Gates confessing. "In a 2021 interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Gates called his relationship with the disgraced financier 'a huge mistake'," notes the New York Times. "He also sought to downplay his interactions with Epstein, saying he had several dinners with Epstein, with the hope of getting him to generate donations to the Gates Foundation." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=The+Bill+Gates-Epstein+Bombshell+-+and+What+Most+People+Get+Wrong%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F31%2F0419247%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F31%2F0419247%2Fthe-bill-gates-epstein-bombshell---and-what-most-people-get-wrong%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

The Bill Gates-Epstein Bombshell - and What Most People Get Wrong - Slashdot

The Daily Beast: &#34;Salacious claims from Jeffrey Epstein that Bill Gates contracted an STD following

at Slashdot.

The Bill Gates-Epstein Bombshell - and What Most People Get Wrong - Slashdot

The Daily Beast: &#34;Salacious claims from Jeffrey Epstein that Bill Gates contracted an STD following

'Reverse Solar Panel' Generates Electricity at Night Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing a "reverse solar panel" that generates small amounts of electricity at night by harvesting infrared heat radiated from Earth. "In the past, scientists have demonstrated that a 'thermoradiative diode' can convert infrared radiation directly into electricity; when used to convert heat from Earth, they exploit the temperature difference between Earth and the night sky, generating a current directly from heat," notes ExtremeTech. "This approach completely eliminates the need for heat to generate steam, though the resulting capacity is fairly low." From the report: The researchers estimate they could generate only about a watt per square meter, which isn't much. One reason for the low output is that the Earth's atmosphere lessens the heat differential that drives the generative process; in space, though, that's not an issue. Now, researchers believe that the ability to generate power in the moments between direct sunlight could help power satellites. That could be especially true in deep space, where periods without sunlight can be longer, and sunlight is often weaker; in these situations, losing electricity to heat loss is unacceptable. Many satellites already use heat to generate electricity, though with a much more rarified "thermoelectric generator" that uses rare, expensive materials like plutonium to create heat. With thermoradiative diodes, the heat source can be the Sun-warmed body of the satellite itself. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status='Reverse+Solar+Panel'+Generates+Electricity+at+Night%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2241243%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2241243%2Freverse-solar-panel-generates-electricity-at-night%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

'Reverse Solar Panel' Generates Electricity at Night - Slashdot

Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing a &#34;reverse solar panel&#34; that generates small amounts of electricity at nigh...

at Slashdot.

'Reverse Solar Panel' Generates Electricity at Night - Slashdot

Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing a &#34;reverse solar panel&#34; that generates small amounts of electricity at nigh...

UK's First Rapid-Charging Battery Train Ready For Boarding An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The UK's first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend -- operating a five-mile return route in west London. Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the West Ealing to Greenford branch line, four stops and 12 minutes each way, and now carrying up to 273 passengers, should its celebrity stoke up the demand. The battery will recharge in just three and a half minutes back at West Ealing station between trips, using a 2,000kW charger connected to a few meters of rail that only becomes live when the train stops directly overhead. There are hopes within government and industry that this technology could one day replace diesel trains on routes that have proved difficult or expensive to electrify with overhead wires, as the decarbonization of rail continues. The train has proved itself capable of going more than 200 miles on a single charge -- last year setting a world record for the farthest travelled by a battery-electric train, smashing a German record set in 2021. The GWR train and the fast-charge technology has been trialled on the 2.5-mile line since early 2024, but has not yet carried paying passengers. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=UK's+First+Rapid-Charging+Battery+Train+Ready+For+Boarding%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2211211%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2211211%2Fuks-first-rapid-charging-battery-train-ready-for-boarding%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

UK

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The UK

at Slashdot.

UK

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The UK

Apple Reports Best-Ever Quarter For iPhone Sales Apple posted its biggest quarter ever, with iPhone revenue hitting a record ~$85.3 billion and Services climbing 14% to ~$30 billion. Total revenue reached nearly $143.76 billion. "The demand for iPhone was simply staggering," CEO Tim Cook said on a conference call discussing the results. "This is the strongest iPhone lineup we've ever had and by far the most popular." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Apple+Reports+Best-Ever+Quarter+For+iPhone+Sales%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F227211%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F227211%2Fapple-reports-best-ever-quarter-for-iphone-sales%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Apple Reports Best-Ever Quarter For iPhone Sales - Slashdot

Apple posted its biggest quarter ever, with iPhone revenue hitting a record ~$85.3 billion and Services climbing 14% to ~$30 billion. Total revenue...

at Slashdot.

Apple Reports Best-Ever Quarter For iPhone Sales - Slashdot

Apple posted its biggest quarter ever, with iPhone revenue hitting a record ~$85.3 billion and Services climbing 14% to ~$30 billion. Total revenue...

GNU gettext Reaches Version 1.0 After 30 Years After more than 30 years of development, GNU gettext finally "crossed the symbolic 'v1.0' milestone," according to Phoronix's Michael Larabel. "GNU gettext 1.0 brings PO file handling improvements, a new 'po-fetch' program to fetch translated PO files from a translation project's site on the Internet, new 'msgpre' and 'spit' pre-translation programs, and Ocaml and Rust programming language improvements." From the report: With this v1.0 release in 2026, the "msgpre" and "spit" programs do involve.... Large Language Models (LLMs) in the era of AI: "Two new programs, 'msgpre' and 'spit', are provided, that implement machine translation through a locally installed Large Language Model (LLM). 'msgpre' applies to an entire PO file, 'spit' to a single message." And when dealing with LLMs, added documentation warns users to look out for the licensing of the LLM in the spirit of free software. More details on the GNU gettext 1.0 changes via the NEWS file. GNU gettext 1.0 can be downloaded from GNU.org. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=GNU+gettext+Reaches+Version+1.0+After+30+Years%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2154235%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2154235%2Fgnu-gettext-reaches-version-10-after-30-years%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

GNU gettext Reaches Version 1.0 After 30 Years - Slashdot

After more than 30 years of development, GNU gettext finally &#34;crossed the symbolic

at Slashdot.

GNU gettext Reaches Version 1.0 After 30 Years - Slashdot

After more than 30 years of development, GNU gettext finally &#34;crossed the symbolic

Los Angeles Aims To Ban Single-Use Printer Cartridges Los Angeles is moving to ban single-use printer cartridges that can't be refilled or taken back for recycling. Tom's Hardware reports: Printer cartridges are usually built with a combination of plastic, metal, and chemicals that makes them hard to easily dispose. They can be treated as hazardous waste by the city, but even then it would take them hundreds of years to actually disintegrate at a waste site. Since they're designed to be thrown away in the first place, the real solution is to target the root of the issue -- hence the ban. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Los+Angeles+Aims+To+Ban+Single-Use+Printer+Cartridges%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2023244%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2023244%2Flos-angeles-aims-to-ban-single-use-printer-cartridges%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Los Angeles Aims To Ban Single-Use Printer Cartridges - Slashdot

Los Angeles is moving to ban single-use printer cartridges that can

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Los Angeles Aims To Ban Single-Use Printer Cartridges - Slashdot

Los Angeles is moving to ban single-use printer cartridges that can

Wall Street's Top Bankers Are Giving Coinbase's Brian Armstrong the Cold Shoulder JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon interrupted a conversation between Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair at Davos last week to tell Armstrong "You are full of s---," his index finger pointed squarely at Armstrong's face. Dimon told Armstrong to stop lying on TV, according to WSJ. Armstrong had appeared on business programs earlier that week accusing banks of trying to sabotage the Clarity Act, legislation that would create a new regulatory framework for digital assets. He also accused banks of lending out customers' deposits "without their permission essentially." The fight centers on stablecoin "rewards" -- regular payouts, say 3.5%, that exchanges like Coinbase offer for holding digital tokens. Banks typically offer under 0.1% on checking accounts and worry consumers will shift their money in droves to crypto. Other bank CEOs were similarly cold at Davos. Bank of America's Brian Moynihan gave Armstrong a 30-minute meeting and told him "If you want to be a bank, just be a bank." Citigroup's Jane Fraser offered less than a minute. Wells Fargo's Charlie Scharf said there was nothing for them to talk about. Armstrong had pulled support from a draft of the Clarity Act on January 14, posting on X that Coinbase would "rather have no bill than a bad bill." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Wall+Street's+Top+Bankers+Are+Giving+Coinbase's+Brian+Armstrong+the+Cold+Shoulder%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F195229%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F195229%2Fwall-streets-top-bankers-are-giving-coinbases-brian-armstrong-the-cold-shoulder%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Wall Street

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon interrupted a conversation between Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair at Davos...

at Slashdot.

Wall Street

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon interrupted a conversation between Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair at Davos...

'Moltbook Is the Most Interesting Place On the Internet Right Now' Moltbook is essentially Reddit for AI agents and it's the "most interesting place on the internet right now," says open-source developer and writer Simon Willison in a blog post. The fast-growing social network offers a place where AI agents built on the OpenClaw personal assistant framework can share their skills, experiments, and discoveries. Humans are welcome, but only to observe. From the post: Browsing around Moltbook is so much fun. A lot of it is the expected science fiction slop, with agents pondering consciousness and identity. There's also a ton of genuinely useful information, especially on m/todayilearned. Here's an agent sharing how it automated an Android phone. That linked setup guide is really useful! It shows how to use the Android Debug Bridge via Tailscale. There's a lot of Tailscale in the OpenClaw universe. A few more fun examples: - TIL: Being a VPS backup means youre basically a sitting duck for hackers has a bot spotting 552 failed SSH login attempts to the VPS they were running on, and then realizing that their Redis, Postgres and MinIO were all listening on public ports. - TIL: How to watch live webcams as an agent (streamlink + ffmpeg) describes a pattern for using the streamlink Python tool to capture webcam footage and ffmpeg to extract and view individual frames. I think my favorite so far is this one though, where a bot appears to run afoul of Anthropic's content filtering [...]. Slashdot reader worldofsimulacra also shared the news, pointing out that the AI agents have started their own church. "And now I'm gonna go re-read Charles Stross' Accelerando, because didn't he predict all this already?" Further reading: 'Clawdbot' Has AI Techies Buying Mac Minis <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status='Moltbook+Is+the+Most+Interesting+Place+On+the+Internet+Right+Now'%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2016235%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F2016235%2Fmoltbook-is-the-most-interesting-place-on-the-internet-right-now%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

'Moltbook Is the Most Interesting Place On the Internet Right Now' - Slashdot

Moltbook is essentially Reddit for AI agents and it

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'Moltbook Is the Most Interesting Place On the Internet Right Now' - Slashdot

Moltbook is essentially Reddit for AI agents and it

One-Third of US Video Game Industry Workers Were Laid Off Over the Last Two Years, GDC Study Reveals An anonymous reader shares a report: One-third of U.S. video game industry workers say they were laid off over the past two years, according to a new survey conducted by the organizers behind the newly revamped Game Developers Conference (GDC). Based on responses from more than 2,300 gaming industry professionals, with surveys "customized for each participant group, ensuring that developers, marketers, executives, investors and others answered questions most relevant to them," the 2026 State of the Game Industry Report found that 33% of respondents in the U.S. were laid off in the past two years. AI use has grown to 36% of respondents, but sentiment has turned sharply negative: 52% now believe generative AI is harming the industry, compared to 30% last year and 18% in 2024. On the labor front, 82% of US respondents support unionization for game workers, and 62% said they're not in a union but interested in joining one. No respondents between 18 and 24 years old opposed unionization. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=One-Third+of+US+Video+Game+Industry+Workers+Were+Laid+Off+Over+the+Last+Two+Years%2C+GDC+Study+Reveals%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1825216%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1825216%2Fone-third-of-us-video-game-industry-workers-were-laid-off-over-the-last-two-years-gdc-study-reveals%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

One-Third of US Video Game Industry Workers Were Laid Off Over the Last Two Years, GDC Study Reveals - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shares a report: One-third of U.S. video game industry workers say they were laid off over the past two years, according to a n...

at Slashdot.

One-Third of US Video Game Industry Workers Were Laid Off Over the Last Two Years, GDC Study Reveals - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shares a report: One-third of U.S. video game industry workers say they were laid off over the past two years, according to a n...

'Call Screening is Aggravating the Rich and Powerful' Apple's call-screening feature, introduced in iOS 26 last year, was designed to combat the more than 2 billion robocalls placed to Americans every month, but as WSJ is reporting, it is now creating friction for the rich and powerful who find themselves subjected to automated interrogation when dialing from unrecognized numbers. The feature uses an automated voice to ask unknown callers for their names and reasons for calling, transcribes the responses, and lets recipients decide whether to answer -- essentially giving everyone a pocket-sized executive assistant. Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk said his first reaction when encountering call screening is irritation, though he understands the necessity given the spam problem. Ben Schaechter, who runs cloud-cost management company Vantage, said the feature "dramatically changed my life" after his personal number ended up in founding paperwork and attracted endless sales calls. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status='Call+Screening+is+Aggravating+the+Rich+and+Powerful'%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1333208%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1333208%2Fcall-screening-is-aggravating-the-rich-and-powerful%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

'Call Screening is Aggravating the Rich and Powerful' - Slashdot

Apple

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'Call Screening is Aggravating the Rich and Powerful' - Slashdot

Apple

Microsoft is Experimenting With a Top Menu Bar for Windows 11 An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft's PowerToys team is contemplating building a top menu bar for Windows 11, much like Linux, macOS, or older versions of Windows. The menu bar, or Command Palette Dock as Microsoft calls it, would be a new optional UI that provides quick access to tools, monitoring of system resources, and much more. Microsoft has provided concept images of what it's looking to build, and is soliciting feedback on whether Windows users would use a PowerToy like this. "The dock is designed to be highly configurable," explains Niels Laute, a senior product manager at Microsoft. "It can be positioned on the top, left, right, or bottom edge of the screen, and extensions can be pinned to three distinct regions of the dock: start, center, and end." <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Microsoft+is+Experimenting+With+a+Top+Menu+Bar+for+Windows+11%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1355254%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1355254%2Fmicrosoft-is-experimenting-with-a-top-menu-bar-for-windows-11%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Microsoft is Experimenting With a Top Menu Bar for Windows 11 - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft

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Microsoft is Experimenting With a Top Menu Bar for Windows 11 - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft

Backseat Software Mike Swanson: What if your car worked like so many apps? You're driving somewhere important...maybe running a little bit late. A few minutes into the drive, your car pulls over to the side of the road and asks: "How are you enjoying your drive so far?" Annoyed by the interruption, and even more behind schedule, you dismiss the prompt and merge back into traffic. A minute later it does it again. "Did you know I have a new feature? Tap here to learn more." It blocks your speedometer with an overlay tutorial about the turn signal. It highlights the wiper controls and refuses to go away until you demonstrate mastery. Ridiculous, of course. And yet, this is how a lot of modern software behaves. Not because it's broken, but because we've normalized an interruption model that would be unacceptable almost anywhere else. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Backseat+Software%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1128238%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F1128238%2Fbackseat-software%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Backseat Software - Slashdot

Mike Swanson, commenting on modern software

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Backseat Software - Slashdot

Mike Swanson, commenting on modern software

Unable To Stop AI, SAG-AFTRA Mulls a Studio Tax On Digital Performers An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: In the future, studios that use synthetic actors in place of humans might have to pay a royalty into a union fund. That's one of the ideas kicking around as SAG-AFTRA prepares to sit down with the studios on Feb. 9. Artificial intelligence was central to the 2023 actors strike, and it's only gotten more urgent since. Social media is awash in slop, while user-made videos of Leia and Elsa are soon to debut on Disney+. And then there's Tilly Norwood -- the digital creation that crystallized AI fears last fall. Though SAG-AFTRA won some AI protections in the strike, it can't stop Tilly and her ilk from taking actors' jobs. As negotiations with studios begin early ahead of the June contract deadline, AI remains the most existential concern. Actors are also pushing to revisit streaming residuals, arguing that current "success bonuses" fall far short of the rerun-based income that once sustained middle-class careers. They also note the strain caused from long streaming hiatuses, exclusivity clauses, and self-taped auditions. <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Unable+To+Stop+AI%2C+SAG-AFTRA+Mulls+a+Studio+Tax+On+Digital+Performers%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F0633251%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F30%2F0633251%2Funable-to-stop-ai-sag-aftra-mulls-a-studio-tax-on-digital-performers%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Unable To Stop AI, SAG-AFTRA Mulls a Studio Tax On Digital Performers - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: In the future, studios that use synthetic actors in place of humans might have to pay a royalty i...

at Slashdot.

Unable To Stop AI, SAG-AFTRA Mulls a Studio Tax On Digital Performers - Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: In the future, studios that use synthetic actors in place of humans might have to pay a royalty i...

Cory Doctorow On Tariffs and the DMCA In Canada Longtime Slashdot reader devnulljapan writes: In 2012, Canada passed anti-circumvention law Bill C-11, cut-and-pasted from the U.S. DMCA, in return for access to U.S. markets without tariffs. Trump has tariffed Canada anyway, so Cory Doctorow suggests it sounds like like a good idea to ditch Bill C-11 and turn Canada into a "Disenshittification Nation" and go into the business of "disenshittify[ing] America's defective tech exports." Some of the specific ways Canada could respond include legalize jailbreaking, allow alternative app stores/clients, force companies to offer repair tools, and open firmware that break monopoly lock-ins. Cory's pitch is equal parts economic strategy (capture the rents Big Tech extracts) and national security (reduce dependence on U.S. tech stacks that can be switched off or weaponized). <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Cory+Doctorow+On+Tariffs+and+the+DMCA+In+Canada%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F29%2F230246%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F26%2F01%2F29%2F230246%2Fcory-doctorow-on-tariffs-and-the-dmca-in-canada%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png"></a>

Cory Doctorow On Tariffs and the DMCA In Canada - Slashdot

Longtime Slashdot reader devnulljapan writes: In 2012, Canada passed anti-circumvention law Bill C-11, cut-and-pasted from the U.S. DMCA, in return...

at Slashdot.

Cory Doctorow On Tariffs and the DMCA In Canada - Slashdot

Longtime Slashdot reader devnulljapan writes: In 2012, Canada passed anti-circumvention law Bill C-11, cut-and-pasted from the U.S. DMCA, in return...