Sci-Tech news

• Meta threatens to remove US news content if new law passes

  06-12-2022 04:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Facebook's parent company says it will pull news from the platform in the US if a new media law passes.
  
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• Cadence's AuraStack agent melds AI with HPC to speed PCB, advanced packaging design

  16-07-2026 00:30 via theregister.com
  
  How AI will change the way scientific computing is done remains an open question. One relies on ultra-precise double-precision mathematics, while the other is perfectly happy working with 4 bits. On the surface, the two are diametrically opposed, two extremes of a spectrum we call high-performance computing (HPC) — and yes, whether you like it or not, AI is HPC. However, the latest AI offering from Cadence Design Systems, one of the biggest names in industrial HPC, offers a glimpse of how
  
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• Amazon Web Services' most vocal customer now runs EC2

  15-07-2026 22:54 via theregister.com
  
  Dave Brown, a 19-year veteran of AWS and member of its S-team leadership cabal, is leaving Amazon for parts undisclosed. It's hard to overstate Dave's impact on AWS; the few times I've met him, it was very clear that there was nothing I could trot out in the realm of "arcane EC2 trivia" that he didn't go orders of magnitude deeper on with zero forewarning. This is a titanic loss for AWS, because that's roughly how deep Dave routinely dove. He'll be handing the reins over to fellow S-team member
  
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• Prominent Haskell defector pilloried by anti-AI purists

  15-07-2026 22:37 via theregister.com
  
  Another day, another programming language feels the heat from AI. A prominent Haskell-based software platform is shifting new development to Python, with its founder arguing that Haskell's tooling and ecosystem have been slow to adapt to AI-assisted development. “Haskell is in real danger,” warned Scarf founder Avi Press, in a post entitled “After 7 years in production, Scarf has reluctantly moved away from Haskell.” “AI is here to stay. The people and ecosystems th
  
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• Americans told to stay indoors TODAY as wildfire smoke reaches 'hazardous' levels across seven states

  15-07-2026 21:52
  
  Millions of Americans are being told to stay indoors as a massive plume of wildfire smoke spreads across multiple states, pushing air quality to dangerous levels.
  
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• ZTE's AI new calling builds an open and intelligent telecom ecosystem, transforming from basic voice call to an AI-powered service hub

  15-07-2026 21:00 via theregister.com
  
  ZTE showcased at MWC Shanghai 2026 its groundbreaking AI New Calling solution, together with China Mobile Research Institute (CMCC). Based on the concept of "Calling as a Service", this innovation uses open interfaces to deeply integrate traditional voice calls with artificial intelligence (AI), establishing a dual-engine system powered by "Calling + AI Agents" and "Calling + AI Capabilities". Through an intelligent service portal, it expands the scope of communication applications and converts
  
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• Americans told to stay indoors as wildfire smoke reaches 'hazardous' levels across seven states

  15-07-2026 20:09
  
  Millions of Americans are being told to stay indoors as a massive plume of wildfire smoke spreads across multiple states, pushing air quality to dangerous levels.
  
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• Banned book of the Bible reveals chilling prophecy with eerie links to today

  15-07-2026 19:15
  
  A more than 2,000-year-old manuscript banned from the Bible is believed to hold details about the rise of the Antichrist, a powerful deceiver said to oppose Christ.
  
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• Salesforce's Agentforce isn't winning over clients, KeyBanc analysts claim

  15-07-2026 19:04 via theregister.com
  
  Salesforce’s flagship AI agent platform is struggling to convince customers of its value, according to an investment bank. The SaaS giant has bet the farm on AI agents, hoping they will fetch and carry data from its systems into a conversational UI, according to its vision of headless CRM. The cornerstone of the strategy is Agentforce, which the vendor promises will help customers build, test, deploy, manage, and orchestrate AI agents in the enterprise. However, a report from KeyBanc Capit
  
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• Linus Torvalds tells AI haters to fork off

  15-07-2026 18:54 via theregister.com
  
  Chief penguinista Linus Torvalds has declared that Linux is not an "anti-AI" project, telling contributors who object they can either walk away or fork the kernel. On lore.kernel.org, the archive for Linux kernel mailing lists, reformed potty mouth Linus was responding to a discussion about some negative sentiments toward AI.It is one area where Torvalds said he was willing to “absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer … Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and
  
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• Millions will wake up in the darkness if Daylight Saving Time bill passes... see how your state will be affected

  15-07-2026 18:44
  
  Tens of millions of Americans could soon start their days in darkness if a plan to end clock changing forever passes the US Senate.
  
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• Dark patterns in Windows are steering users to Edge: Mozilla-commissioned report

  15-07-2026 18:24 via theregister.com
  
  A Mozilla-commissioned report is claiming that Microsoft is indulging in all manner of bad behaviors to nudge users toward its Edge browser. However, judging by market share statistics, any potential efforts in that direction are not going too well for the Windows giant. The Over The Edge 2.0 report, commissioned by Mozilla, was published earlier this week and documents design choices from Microsoft that sent users into the arms of Edge. It also looked at differences in Microsoft's approach in G
  
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• Millions will wake up in the darkness if new Daylight Saving Time bill passes... see how your state will be affected

  15-07-2026 18:09
  
  Tens of millions of Americans could soon start their days in darkness if a plan to end clock changing forever passes the US Senate.
  
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• Banned book of the Bible reveals chilling prophecy about the Antichrist's rise

  15-07-2026 18:00
  
  A more than 2,000-year-old manuscript banned from the Bible is believed to hold details about the rise of the Antichrist, a powerful deceiver said to oppose Christ.
  
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• The AI Robots Won’t Strike, So Hyundai’s Workers Did It First

  15-07-2026 17:27 via technocracy.news
  
  During the chaos of the Covid era in 2021, Hyundai quietly bought the leading robot company, Boston Dynamics. It said at the time that it “aims to develop advanced technologies that enhance people’s lives and promote safety, thereby realizing progress for humanity.” Fu you. The robots are poised to take over manufacturing at their auto plants. So much for progress for humanity. So, the humans are striking. ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.Electrification isn’t the only major
  
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• The core traits of FEMCELS: Scientists identify 6 key characteristics in women who feel doomed to be single forever

  15-07-2026 17:24
  
  A new study has shed light on the women who feel they are destined to never find love.
  
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• CISA sounds alarm over trio of exploited SharePoint flaws

  15-07-2026 17:21 via theregister.com
  
  The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged all organizations running SharePoint to harden their defenses after the disclosure of actively exploited vulnerabilities. The warning applies to those running any supported version of SharePoint Server on-prem, with three vulnerabilities of particular interest cited. A spoofing bug, CVE-2026-32201 (6.5), was the first to be mentioned. Microsoft disclosed it in March and CISA confirmed it was being actively exploited in June
  
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• Microsoft cancels Patch Tuesday for some Dell users over surprise shutdowns, overheating devices

  15-07-2026 15:44 via theregister.com
  
  Patch Tuesday was followed by Oopsie Wednesday for some Dell customers, with Microsoft slamming on the update brakes after the hardware maker reported some problems. Yesterday was Microsoft's monthly security update for Windows. This month was, by all accounts, a bit of a doozy with a record-breaking number of CVEs patched, some of which were classed as critical and under active exploitation. Better get patching then? Well, er, no. Not if you're using a Dell device affected by issues associated
  
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• MPs fear Treasury cold feet could sink Whitehall's £1.15B shared services push

  15-07-2026 15:14 via theregister.com
  
  The UK Treasury's reluctance to fully commit to a cross-government £1.15 billion shared service strategy it has funded risks making the whole effort "potentially unworkable," the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned. HM Treasury's (HMT) decision in June to delay joining Matrix - one of five clusters the government hopes will save £4.3 billion by moving 17 departments and 300 arm's-length bodies onto shared ERP and HR systems - sends "a very poor reputational signal to the rest
  
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• Subtle signs in your fingernails that can signal dangerous 'silent' health complications

  15-07-2026 15:11
  
  While many of us spend all day looking down at them, they're easy to ignore. Dermatologists speaking to the Daily Mail have revealed the five subtle nail changes you should never ignore.
  
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• Why it doesn't feel as hot in the UK anymore: Scientists say it takes just two weeks for our bodies to acclimatise to the heat - as Brits claim they're 'starting to feel chilly'

  15-07-2026 15:02
  
  Have you noticed that it doesn't feel as hot in the UK anymore, despite what the reading on the thermometer says? If so, you've probably become acclimatised to the heat.
  
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• LegacyHive: 'Bone-shattering' zero-day from Microsoft's serial tormentor not the haymaker that was promised

  15-07-2026 14:59 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft’s worst nightmare - a prolific zero-day vulnerability hunter who calls themselves Nightmare Eclipse - published yet another zero-day on Tuesday, a vulnerability allowing attackers to mount user hives, including partial exploit code. Suspected of being a disgruntled former Microsoft engineer, based on the sophistication of their prior vulnerabilities, NightmareEclipse came good on their promise to release another zero-day on July 14. Whether it lives up to the promised “bone
  
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• AWS sustainability claims don't hold water, lawsuit alleges

  15-07-2026 14:21 via theregister.com
  
  Amazon Web Services is facing a lawsuit alleging it published false and misleading statements about the water use and sustainability of its Northern Virginia datacenters, "falsely" portraying those operations as environmentally responsible.The complaint, case number CL26002535-00 filed with the Circuit Court of Arlington County last week, seen by The Register, states that AWS has never publicly disclosed its actual water consumption in the region, known as the world's "datacenter capital." Despi
  
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• Toxic air invading 17 US states TODAY as massive plume of wildfire smoke crosses nation's border

  15-07-2026 14:19
  
  Millions of Americans have been warned of plumes of smoke carrying lung-penetrating particles pouring into the US for the rest of the week. An expert reveals where the risk is greatest.
  
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• Half of Brits with non-English names have shortened or Anglicised their name to avoid bias, study finds

  15-07-2026 14:12
  
  Jesminder and Aleksandr may not sound familiar to most Brits - but Jess and Alex probably do. Half of Brits with non-English names have shortened or Anglicised them, a study reveals.
  
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• EU lets wearables wriggle out of user-replaceable battery rules

  15-07-2026 13:05 via theregister.com
  
  The European Commission has watered down its rules around battery replaceability with exemptions for some wearable devices, potentially including the Apple Watch and Meta's AI Glasses. A delegated act was adopted by the European Commission on July 14 that exempted the products from EU requirements on the removability and replaceability of portable batteries. The batteries must still be replaceable, but by independent professionals rather than end users. Wet appliances already have an exemption f
  
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• A moment of silence, please, for the final release of Debian on x86-32

  15-07-2026 12:44 via theregister.com
  
  This week brings two point releases for both Debian 13 - aka “Trixie” - and Debian 12 - “Bookworm,” the latter now shuffling off into long-term support. Debian 13.6 and Debian 12.15 are just the latest point releases of Trixie and Bookworm, but Debian 12.15 is also significant in another way: it marks the end of regular support for Debian 12, which is being handed over to the LTS team. That reduced level of support is scheduled to last until mid-2028. That means Debian 12
  
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• EU competition decision hands SAP customers more leverage in contract talks

  15-07-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  Enterprise customers should use SAP's commitments to the European Commission to reconsider complex ERP migration timelines and gain leverage in negotiations with the German software giant, according to Gartner. Last week, the European Commission ended an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices after SAP agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance fees, among other concessions. The case stems from September last year, when the executive branch of the EU launched
  
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• Sick of the UK heatwave? Scientists say PRAYING for rain really does work - but only in some places

  15-07-2026 11:57
  
  Following weeks of relentless heatwaves, many Brits will be praying for a bit of rain to cool everything down. Now, a study has revealed this really can work - but only in some places.
  
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• Mediterranean holidays face 50°C nightmare: Experts warn blistering temperatures are 'perfectly possible' this summer

  15-07-2026 11:29
  
  Experts have warned that 50°C (122°F) is 'perfectly possible' in southern Europe in the coming weeks.
  
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