Germany’s cabinet has approved a new law allowing police to shoot down or disable rogue drones that threaten airspace security, following recent airport disruptions attributed to Russian reconnaissance. “Other techniques available to down drones include using lasers or jamming signals to sever control and navigation links,” notes Reuters. From the report: With the new law, Germany joins...

Shayne Coplan, a 27-year-old NYU dropout who founded Polymarket from his bathroom in 2020, has become the youngest self-made billionaire after Intercontinental Exchange (owner of the NYSE) invested up to $2 billion in his once-controversial prediction market platform. Bloomberg reports: A couple of years after dropping out of New York University with dreams of making it big in crypto, Shayne...

Verizon is acquiring Starry, the struggling wireless ISP that beams high-speed internet via millimeter-wave antennas. The company said the acquisition “advances” its ability to offer high-speed internet in apartments, condominiums, and other multi-dwelling units. The Verge reports: Starry made its debut in Boston in 2016, offering gigabit speeds via its unconventional approach to internet...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: London cops on Tuesday arrested two teenagers on suspicion of computer misuse and blackmail following a ransomware attack on a chain of London preschools. London’s Metropolitan Police said the two men, both aged 17, were taken into custody during an operation at residential properties in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. The arrests...

Mason Peck, an aerospace engineer at Cornell, was trying to test innovative designs in spacecraft when a stop-work order hit.

For a new series, Times journalists are speaking with scientists whose research has ended as a result of policy changes by the Trump administration.

BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz: IDC says global PC shipments jumped 9.4 percent in Q3 2025, reaching nearly 76 million units. Asia and Japan led the growth thanks to school projects and corporate refreshes tied to Windows 10’s end of support. North America was the weak link, with tariffs and economic unease keeping buyers on the sidelines even as aging fleets strain under Windows...

Amazon Pharmacy will begin offering prescription pickup kiosks at its One Medical clinics starting in Los Angeles this December, allowing patients to collect common medications like antibiotics and inhalers without waiting for delivery. Reuters reports: The kiosks will be the first in-person pick-up service offered by Amazon Pharmacy, which has been providing prescription services primarily by...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: OpenAI and Anthropic are considering using investor funds to settle potential claims from multibillion-dollar lawsuits, as insurers balk at providing comprehensive coverage for the risks associated with artificial intelligence. The two US-based AI start-ups have traditional business insurance coverage in place, but insurance...

Salesforce says it’s refusing to pay an extortion demand made by a crime syndicate that claims to have stolen roughly 1 billion records from dozens of Salesforce customers. From a report: The threat group making the demands began their campaign in May, when they made voice calls to organizations storing data on the Salesforce platform, Google-owned Mandiant said in June. The English-speaking...

The UK’s national security is under severe threat from the climate crisis and the looming collapse of vital natural ecosystems, with food shortages and economic disaster potentially just years away, a powerful report by the UK’s intelligence chiefs is due to warn. The Guardian: However, the report, which was supposed to launch on Thursday at a landmark event in London, has been delayed, and...

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for the development of molecular building blocks with spaces large enough that gases and other chemicals can flow through them. The New York Times: The cavities on the inside are “almost like rooms in a hotel, so that guest molecules can enter and also exit again from the same material,”...