
The man who saved IBM dies
Gerstner’s nine-year tenure as chairman and CEO of the company known as “Big Blue” is often used as a case study in corporate leadership.
FRIDAY, 02 JANUARY 2026, 16:25

Gerstner’s nine-year tenure as chairman and CEO of the company known as “Big Blue” is often used as a case study in corporate leadership.

Severe storms and high winds wreaked havoc on South Africa’s electricity supply over the weekend, resulting in power disruptions on Eskom’s network in several provinces.
An anonymous reader shared this report from The Guardian:A Texas father used the parental controls on his teenage daughter’s cell phone to find and help rescue her after she was kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, authorities allege… Her father subsequently located her phone through the device’s parental controls, the agency’s statement said. The phone was about 2 miles...
Even after its acquisition by Qualcomm, the EFF believes Arduino “isn’t imposing any new bans on tinkering with or reverse engineering Arduino boards,” (according to Mitch Stoltz, EFF director for competition and IP litigation). While Adafruit’s managing editor Phillip Torrone had claimed to 36,000+ followers on LinkedIn that Arduino users were now “explicitly forbidden from reverse...
Under the shift, which Google said would eventually be rolled out to all users, old addresses would remain active. Messages and services would not be lost.

Space junkyards | Additions to signs | No-joke planning reforms | Chris Rea | Last-ditch attempt | ‘Trump class’ | Moving obituary
I do hope countries agree to use the Jules Verne crater on the far side of the moon as a spacecraft graveyard to crash defunct equipment as they use Point Nemo in the South Pacific Ocean as a spacecraft cemetery (Patches of the moon to become spacecraft graveyards,...
An anonymous reader shared this report from the CBC:Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac says he may have been defamed by Google after it recently produced an AI-generated summary falsely identifying him as a sex offender. The Juno Award-winning musician said he learned of the online misinformation last week after a First Nation north of Halifax confronted him with the summary and cancelled a...

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look skyward, where a new lunar contest mirrors humanity’s struggle to live within planetary limits
During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing,...
Laptop makers are facing record-setting memory prices next year. The site Notebookcheck catalogs how different companies are responding: Sources told [Korean business newspaper] Chosun Biz that some manufacturers have signed preliminary contracts with Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix. Even so, it won’t prevent DDR5 RAM prices from soaring 45% higher by the end of 2026…. Before the memory shortage,...
The Register reports on challenges facing Europe’s pursuit of “digital sovereignty”:The US CLOUD Act of 2018 allows American authorities to compel US-based technology companies to provide requested data, regardless of where that data is stored globally. This places European organizations in a precarious position, as it directly clashes with Europe’s own stringent privacy regulation, the General...

Many people rely on the sleep aid melatonin to help them get a more restful night’s sleep. But is it safe? And how much is too much?
An anonymous reader shared this report from the BBC:There is growing controversy over recent evidence suggesting that a mysterious force known as dark energy might be changing in a way that challenges our current understanding of time and space. An analysis by a South Korean team has hinted that, rather than the Universe continuing to expand, galaxies could be pulled back together by gravity,...

Whether you want to battle Star Wars spaceships or shoot a cinematic masterpiece, one of these drones is going to be perfect for you.

Convenience isn’t just for meat eaters anymore. These plant-based meal kits and delivery services bring healthy preprepared meals and meal kits to your door.
Drinking water in plastic bottles contains countless particles too small to see. New research finds that people who drink water from them on a daily basis ingest far more microplastics than those who don’t.

The battle for AI dominance has left a large footprint—and it’s only getting bigger and more expensive.

Here’s how South Africa’s five-year driving licences compare to 32 other countries, including several African nations.
The president has backed policies that allow the industry to grow unfettered. The mutually beneficial alliance is causing concern among some conservatives.
Two brothers, both mechanical engineers, are climbing many of the world’s tall peaks to prove they have been measured incorrectly.

Questions around the reliability of the US greenback are dulling the luster of what was the world’s currency of trade. New, global alternatives are emerging.
“I believe artificial intelligence will displace workers at a scale many people don’t yet realize,” says Sal Kahn (founder/CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy). But in an op-ed in the New York Times he also proposes a solution that “could change the trajectory of the lives of millions who will be displaced…” “I believe that every company benefiting from automation — which is most American...