THURSDAY, 15 MAY 2025, 14:16
Uber is launching a fixed-route shuttle service in major U.S. cities that offers commuters up to 50% off UberX fares during weekday peak hours. Called “Route Share,” the service aims to provide a more affordable, predictable alternative to standard ride-hailing. TechCrunch reports: The commuter shuttles will drive between pre-set stops every 20 minutes, according to Sachin Kansal, Uber’s chief...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: We’ve known for months now that Valve is expanding its Linux-based SteamOS operating system beyond the Steam Deck to other handheld PCs, starting with some versions of the Asus ROG Ally. This week, Valve began making some changes to its Steam storefront to prepare for a future when the Deck isn’t the only hardware running SteamOS. A new...
In response to X user queries about everything from sports to Medicaid cuts, the xAI chatbot inserted unrelated information about “white genocide” in South Africa.
Following a WIRED inquiry, Telegram banned thousands of accounts used for crypto scam money laundering, including those of Haowang Guarantee, a black market that enabled over $27 billion in transactions.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp criticized Europe’s AI adoption while praising Saudi Arabia’s engineering talent at Tuesday’s Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh. “It’s like people have given up,” Karp said of Europe, while commending Saudi engineers for their “meritocracy and patriotism” and “deep tradition in engineering excellence.”
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Microsoft is limiting access to tools that boosted its rivals, but larger customers like DuckDuckGo say they won’t be affected.
Vestact Asset Management director Byron Lotter says he has no doubt that Vodacom and MTN are lobbying hard to prevent Starlink’s entry into South Africa — and for good reason.
Groups of large language model artificial intelligence agents can adopt social norms as humans do, report says
Artificial intelligence can spontaneously develop human-like social conventions, a study has found.
The research, undertaken in collaboration between City St George’s, University of London and the IT University of Copenhagen, suggests that when large language model (LLM) AI agents...
Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers say
Toxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research.
The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a...
Martha Wells’ book series uses wry humor to tell a story about artificial intelligence, humanity, and free will. The Apple TV+ adaptation tries to do the same—with mixed results.
A California judge slammed a pair of law firms for the undisclosed use of AI after he received a supplemental brief with “numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations.” From a report: In a ruling submitted last week, Judge Michael Wilner imposed $31,000 in sanctions against the law firms involved, saying “no reasonably competent attorney should out-source research...
Threatening social media posts targeting US judges have increased by more than 300 percent since last year, a new report shows.
Gilmoure shares a report: U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and...
Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to more tightly regulate the sale of Americans’ sensitive personal data.
Many scientists contributed to the final result, but he was the one who, as a young physicist, designed the world’s deadliest weapon. He went on to advise a dozen presidents.
Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday it will revert its streaming service name from Max back to HBO Max this summer, just two years after dropping the HBO branding. The decision, revealed at the company’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York, represents an admission that HBO’s premium brand equity remains valuable in the streaming landscape. “Returning the HBO brand into HBO Max...
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Sihle Lonzi was forcibly removed from a parliamentary committee meeting after questioning the Director-General about the appointment of ANC Chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s son to the CETA board. The incident follows the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s revelation of a leaked list of Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board appointments, exposing widespread […]
An anonymous reader shares a report: Sony just announced its financial forecast for the next year, and it’s expecting to be impacted by tariffs to the tune of 100 billion yen (about $680 million). To compensate, the company says it’s considering options including moving manufacturing to the US and increasing prices for consumers. Speaking to investors during the company’s earnings call, Sony...
These bird feeders come with cameras and connected apps to let you see and learn about the birds in your neighborhood.
The discovery by two local fossil hunters on a river bank in Victoria has ‘potentially far-reaching implications’, scientists say
Fossilised claw prints found in Australia suggest amniotes – the ancestors of reptiles, birds and mammals – evolved about 40m years earlier than thought.
The footprints, in sandstone dated 354m to 358m years old, were probably made by reptiles crossing a surface...
Fossilised footprints found in Australia provide the oldest evidence for reptiles on Earth, a discovery that suggests the group evolved in the southern rather than the northern hemisphere, and some 35-40 million years earlier than thought. A 35cm trackway of clawed footprints found in sandstone on Taungurung country, near Mansfield in eastern Victoria, have been dated to between 354 and...