Meta’s Embrace of A.I. Is Making Its Employees Miserable
As it adapts to the artificial intelligence era, the company is pushing many of its 78,000 workers to use the technology, and preparing to lay some of them off.
Science/Tech
Hyperscalers ate my next computer
The economics of on-device computing have, for the first time in the PC’s long history, been broken by the data centre.
Can the U.S. Rein in Prediction Markets? + Joanna Stern on Her Year of A.I. Experiments + Our Producer Goes to Attention School
“It seems every other day I am reading a story about a massive insider trading scandal.”
Major African telco postpones mobile money listing
Airtel Africa has delayed its mobile money initial public offering to late 2026, citing war-driven margin pressures.
Cabinet approves new permanent Sita board, ending years of turmoil
Stability is needed as Sita looks to re-establish itself as a trusted service provider for government IT services.
TikTok rows back AI video descriptions in US after absurd errors
While only rolled out to some TikTok users, the feature’s bizarre AI-generated descriptions were shared widely.
The Hopelessness of ‘The Audacity’
In AMC’s merciless satire, the tech lords are extracting all they can from the business (and us) before everything goes to hell.
Your databases are being watched – just not by you
Most organisations invest in perimeter security. The database – where the data actually lives – is the layer most often left ungoverned.
A 12-year-old competition case lands on Canal+’s desk
The Competition Commission has opened the door to settlement talks over an alleged 2014 market-division pact.
Why South Africa is Zoho’s third-fastest-growing market
While the dollar SaaS stack squeezes IT budgets, Zoho’s rand-priced bundle is gaining ground in South Africa.
I made my husband ill with a few words – nobody is immune to the power of the nocebo effect | Helen Pilcher
My prank demonstrated how our minds can adversely affect our health, and scientists are increasingly showing that negative thoughts can produce very real symptoms
For his last birthday, I gave my husband a monthly beer box subscription. While he saw it as a generous and delicious present, it spawned a mischievous idea on my part. One evening, as I watched him drain the last bottle, I opened my...
OpenAI’s new audio APIs aim for conversational voice agents
ChatGPT maker OpenAI is pushing voice AI beyond transcription, towards agents that can act in real time.
Water flows to parched NSW wetlands could be turned back on within weeks as drought fears loom
Water minister Rose Jackson calls drying in Gwydir region ‘devastating’ as bill passes upper house
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Water flows to parched New South Wales wetlands where an urgent rescue mission to save dying wildlife unfolded are a step closer to resuming after legislation passed the state parliament’s upper house.
The...
Instagram privacy tech is turned off today – what does this mean for your DMs?
The platform said it would remove end-to-end encrypted messages, a major U‑turn by parent company Meta.
Two Britons evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship ‘improving’ in hospital
Man, 69, is in intensive care in Johannesburg, while expedition guide Martin Anstee, 56, receiving care in Netherlands
What is hantavirus?
Two Britons who were medically evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship are improving, global health officials have said.
A British passenger, understood to be a 69-year-old man, was taken to South Africa on 27 April and is receiving care at a private...
Meta brings High Court challenge over Ofcom fees
Meta said Ofcom’s calculations were “disproportionate”; the regulator said it would defend its position.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Plans $55 Billion Investment to Make A.I. Chips
The rocket company’s new semiconductor factory, called Terafab, is part of the billionaire’s increasing efforts to dominate artificial intelligence.
The gaps in South Africa’s digital ID plan
Digital identity experts have welcomed new draft regulations as a good starting point but have flagged areas of concern.
‘People should be talking about it’: moves to curtail vaccine information obscures important science, doctors say
Quashed studies, halted publications and canceled research threaten damage to public health, critics say
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A series of high-profile and under-the-radar decisions by US health agencies have scientists and doctors questioning the extent of the agencies’ control over public communications – and they say the debate is obscuring the most important...
South Africa’s TikTok election is coming
Broadcaster-only election rules leave South Africa exposed to the AI-driven disinformation already shaping votes elsewhere.
Tiny parasitic wasp named after David Attenborough for his 100th birthday
Specimen from 1983 lay forgotten at Natural History Museum until recently, when spotted by a volunteer and identified as new genus
He has lizards, bats, frogs, weevils, flatworms, snails and spiders named after him. But now Sir David Attenborough can celebrate his 100th birthday with an entirely new genus named in his honour.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have paid...