The tech titan and his wife once had sprawling ambitions for their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Now their efforts in politics, education and housing have been cut back to focus on science.

Japanese politicians failed to pass legislation last month that would have allowed married couples to keep separate surnames, despite surveys showing majority public support for the change. Japan remains the only country requiring married couples by law to share the same surname, with women taking their husband’s name in 95% of cases. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s skepticism blocked...

Seven people have now received Neuralink’s N1 brain implant, which enables individuals with ALS or spinal cord injuries to control a computer with their thoughts. PCMag reports: In a February 2025 update, Neuralink confirmed that three people had received its brain-computer interface (BCI). That increased to five by June, when it also reported a $650 million funding round. We’re now at seven,...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The Danish government is to clamp down on the creation and dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes by changing copyright law to ensure that everybody has the right to their own body, facial features and voice. The Danish government said on Thursday it would strengthen protection against digital imitations of people’s identities with what it...

Tech companies Google and Palo Alto Networks are sounding the alarm over the “Scattered Spider” hacking group’s interest in the aviation sector. From a report: In a statement posted on LinkedIn, Sam Rubin, an executive at Palo Alto’s cybersecurity-focused Unit 42, said his company had “observed Muddled Libra (also known as Scattered Spider) targeting the aviation industry.” In a similar...

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes in an opinion piece for The Register: Microsoft, tactically admitting it has failed at talking all the Windows 10 PC users into moving to Windows 11 after all, is — sort of, kind of — extending Windows 10 support for another year. For most users, that means they’ll need to subscribe to Microsoft 365. This, in turn, means their data and meta-information will be...

Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Car and Driver with the comment: “Lack of visibility is a significant consequence of improving safety on the front overlap crash testing.” Here’s an excerpt from the report: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has a new method to look at what drivers can’t look at, and the results of a DOT study using the method suggest that things have...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the U.S. Senate that while AI hasn’t yet dramatically impacted the economy or labor market, its transformative effects are inevitable — though the timeline remains uncertain. The Register reports: Speaking to the US Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday to give his semiannual monetary policy report, Powell told elected officials that AI’s effect on the...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from UploadVR: Software developer Stijn Spanhove used the newest SDK features of Snap OS to build a prototype of [a real-world ad blocker for Snap Spectacles]. If you’re unfamiliar, Snap Spectacles are a bulky AR glasses development kit available to rent for $99/month. They run Snap OS, the company’s made-for-AR operating system, and developers build apps...

Facebook is prompting users to opt into a feature that uploads photos from their camera roll — even those not shared on the platform — to Meta’s servers for AI-driven suggestions like collages and stylized edits. While Meta claims the content is private and not used for ads, opting in allows the company to analyze facial features and retain personal data under its broad AI terms, raising...

In a year when average air temperatures consistently breached the 1.5C warming threshold, global COâ-equivalent emissions from energy rose by 1%, marking yet another record, the fourth in as many years. From a report: Wind and solar energy alone expanded by an impressive 16% in 2024, nine times faster than total energy demand. Yet this growth did not fully counterbalance rising demand...

The blue screen that stressed computer users for more than three decades is giving way to a black one.

Germany’s data protection commissioner has urged Apple and Google to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores due to concerns about data protection. Reuters reports: Commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday that she had made the request because DeepSeek illegally transfers users’ personal data to China. The two U.S. tech giants must now review the request promptly...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Canada is proceeding with its digital services tax on technology companies such as Meta despite a Group of Seven agreement that resulted in removing the Section 899 “revenge tax” proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax bill. The first payment for Canada’s digital tax is still due Monday, the country’s Finance Department confirmed, and...