FRIDAY, 26 DECEMBER 2025, 08:48
Amazon finds itself caught between two competing impulses as AI shopping agents from OpenAI, Google, Perplexity and Microsoft mushroom across the e-commerce space — block them to protect its dominant position, or partner with them to avoid being left behind. The company has largely played defense so far. Amazon recently updated its website code to block external AI agents from crawling it, and...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: Concerned that artificial intelligence could threaten Communist Party rule, Beijing is taking extraordinary steps to keep it under control. Although China’s government sees AI as crucial to the country’s economic and military future, regulations and recent purges of online content show it also fears AI could destabilize society....
Each week, social platforms like X and Telegram are flooded with bold predictions from self-proclaimed crypto experts claiming to have discovered the “next 1000x coin.” The hype of this next 1000x crypto often follows a familiar pattern: rocket emojis, screenshots of massive gains, and urgent calls to buy before it’s too late. While a few […]
Los Angeles Times (non-paywalled source): When police questioned Marvin Margolis following the murder of Elizabeth Short — who became known as the Black Dahlia — he lied about how well he had known her. The 22-year-old Short had been found mutilated in a weedy lot in South Los Angeles, severed neatly in half with what detectives thought was surgical skill. Margolis was on the list of suspects....
European leaders including Emmanuel Macron have accused Washington of “coercion and intimidation,” after the US imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating American tech companies. From a report: The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc’s...
Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station, as major powers rush to explore the earth’s only natural satellite. Reuters: Ever since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space in 1961, Russia has prided itself as a leading power in space exploration, but in...
The Justice Department justified its delayed release of sensitive files by citing the need to carefully redact information that could identify victims, but at least some of those redactions have proven to be technically ineffective and can be bypassed by simply copying and pasting the blacked-out text into a new document. A 2022 complaint filed by the US Virgin Islands seeking damages from...
Social gaming platforms have reshaped the digital entertainment landscape in the United States by combining interactive experiences with engaging gameplay. Their growth has been driven by ongoing technological advancements, attracting a broad audience seeking new and immersive forms of online entertainment. This transformation reflects a notable shift in how interactive gaming is experienced...
Hallmark has released more than 300 Christmas-themed TV movies since 2000, and a detailed internal rulebook obtained by film data analyst Stephen Follows explains how the company manages to produce nearly one new holiday film per week during the final quarter of each year without the whole operation collapsing into creative chaos. The document, referred to as Hallmark’s “bible” by writers and...
An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2024, 25.2% of gross final energy consumption in the EU came from renewable sources, up by 0.7 percentage points compared with 2023. This share is 17.3 pp short of meeting the 2030 target (42.5%), which would require an annual average increase of 2.9 pp from 2025 to 2030. Among the EU countries, Sweden recorded the highest share of its gross final energy...
This compact 2.1 soundbar system offers realistic Dolby Atmos surround sound.
YouTube has been winning the streaming wars for years, but its real competitive advantage comes not from prime-time viewing but from its stranglehold on daytime hours when Americans are meditating, exercising, cooking, or simply looking for background noise. At 11 a.m. in October, YouTube commanded an average audience of 6.3 million viewers compared to Netflix’s 2.8 million, according to...
Years before returning to politics, Cyril Ramaphosa was part of a group of investors who helped Seacom defeat government attempts to block the launch of its undersea cable in South Africa.
Goldman Sachs, in a note this week, via India Dispatch: There are various reasons that explains this: (i) A large part of the global education spend goes towards formal education (schools, colleges and universities), which are typically either run by governments or are not-for-profit institutions; (ii) It is difficult to replicate education quality at scale in our view, since most teachers...
Flame retardants commonly used in furniture are linked to serious health issues, including cancer and thyroid disease
Removing old furniture made with flame retardants from people’s homes can significantly reduce the amount of the toxic chemicals in blood, a new 10-year, peer-reviewed study by California regulators and public health groups has found.
The drop that researchers found was a...
Monitors are cheaper, faster, and more beautiful than ever. Here’s how to choose one that will suit your needs and budget.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure U.S. tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints. The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa...
The Trump administration said five regulators and researchers who work to tackle disinformation and abuse on the internet had been barred from entering the United States.
Upgrade your loved one’s home office with these picks that make every day a little easier—and a little more fun.
Apple, Michigan taxpayers, and one of Detroit’s wealthiest families spent roughly $30 million training hundreds of people to build iPhone apps. Not everyone lands coding jobs right away.
Brighten up your bare desk with these cute, fidgety, functional, and stylish desk accessories.