FRIDAY, 08 AUGUST 2025, 10:20
Social media post led to discovery that samplers measuring toxic particles in air can also detect fragments of DNA
As the UK’s Big Butterfly Count reaches more than 100,000 submissions, an international group of scientists have produced the first national survey of biodiversity using an entirely different approach. Instead of looking for species by eye, they took advantage of the samplers...
Robots on sale at the store include humanoid butlers, chess partners and dogs.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Some of the first reviews ever written for the original Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. have been digitized and published by the Video Game History Foundation. The reviews appeared in Computer Entertainer, an early video game magazine that ran from 1982 to 1990. The archivists at the Foundation tracked down the magazine’s entire run and...
Duolingo’s decision to go “AI-first” sparked backlash from users, but the company’s second quarter earnings result tell a different story. Quarterly revenue exceeded expectations, stock surged nearly 30%, and daily active users grew 40% year-over-year. TechCrunch reports: Now the company anticipates making over $1 billion in revenue this year, and daily active users have grown 40%...
Despite dwindling global market share, retreat from key regions like Europe, and halting in-house production, Sony insists its Xperia smartphone line remains “very important” to its business. 9to5Google reports: During Sony’s latest financial results presentation this week, Sony CFO Lin Tao addressed the state of its Xperia smartphone brand, saying that Xperia is part of “a very important...
Spreadsheets, Slack messages, and files linked to an alleged group of North Korean IT workers expose their meticulous job-planning and targeting—and the constant surveillance they’re under.
Amazon Web Services has struck a deal with the U.S. government to provide up to $1 billion in cloud service discounts through 2028. CNBC reports: The agreement is expected to speed up migration to the cloud, as well as adoption of artificial intelligence tools, the General Services Administration said. “AWS’s partnership with GSA demonstrates a shared public-private commitment to enhancing...
Ex-fossil fuel executive Chris Wright said administration is reviewing national assessments made by past governments
The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports.
Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told...
Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to crack down on HBO Max password sharing by the end of 2025, with “aggressive” enforcement and messaging starting next month. Deadline reports: JB Perrette, head of streaming and gaming at Warner Bros. Discovery said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call that messaging to consumers is about to get more “aggressive.” The media company looking to close...
You may be familiar with white noise, but what about pink noise, or brown noise? WIRED’s sleep expert walks you through the rainbow of benefits for bedtime.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: In an interview, Lansweeper, an IT asset discovery and inventory company, revealed to ZDNET that, in its analysis of over 15 million identified consumer desktop operating systems, it found that Linux desktops currently account for just over 6% of PC market share. This news comes after several other studies have shown the Linux desktop is right...
President Trump is set to sign an executive order opening up 401(k) retirements plans to alternative assets, like private equity, real estate, and cryptocurrency. The move has the potential to unlock trillions in new investment for asset managers outside of stocks, bonds, and cash, “though critics say it also could bring too much risk into retirement investments,” reports Reuters. From the...
The court revived a legal challenge to a 2022 regulation that significantly reduced the compensation utilities paid to owners of home solar systems for the electricity they sent to the grid.
Microsoft’s $30 Extended Security Updates license for Windows 10 will cover up to 10 devices under a single Microsoft Account, the company confirmed in updated support documentation. The ESU program, which provides security updates through October 13, 2026, requires a Microsoft Account for all three enrollment options: the $30 one-time purchase, redemption of 1,000 Microsoft Reward points, or...
Final Destination Bloodlines, Sinners, and Get Out are just a few of the movies you should be watching on HBO Max this month.
Google has quietly admitted defeat in selling advertising for its smart TV platform, returning ad inventory to publishers and accepting a revenue share instead of controlling ad spots directly, according to The Verge. The policy reversal comes as Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on Google TV without breaking even, while Amazon outspends the company on retail incentives...
A string of US armory break-ins, kept quiet by authorities for months, points to a growing security crisis—and signs of an inside job.
Researchers found that an encryption algorithm likely used by law enforcement and special forces can have weaknesses that could allow an attacker to listen in.
OpenAI released GPT-5 on Thursday, ending a two-year development cycle that CEO Sam Altman called a “significant leap in intelligence” over previous models. The updated AI system achieved state-of-the-art performance across multiple benchmarks, scoring 94.6% on AIME 2025 mathematics problems and 74.9% on SWE-bench Verified coding tasks. The model operates as a unified system combining a...
The A.I. start-up said its new flagship technology was faster, more accurate and less likely to make stuff up.
OpenAI released GPT-5 on Thursday to both free users of ChatGPT and paying subscribers.