https://cobanter.com/topics/technology/News, stories, and ideas about Technology on CoBanter.enFri, 23 Oct 2026 04:54:27 GMT https://cobanter.com/icon-192.pnghttps://cobanter.com/topics/technology/ https://cobanter.com/p/a-32-bit-overflow-in-smilebasic-4-opened-a-partial-switch-2--8fa4d8d17e/https://cobanter.com/p/a-32-bit-overflow-in-smilebasic-4-opened-a-partial-switch-2--8fa4d8d17e/Fri, 23 Oct 2026 04:54:27 GMTTechnologyA security researcher has demonstrated a software-only partial jailbreak of the Switch 2, gaining “userland” access that he says allows homebrew, reverse engineering and modding of<p>A security researcher has demonstrated a software-only partial jailbreak of the Switch 2, gaining “userland” access that he says allows homebrew, reverse engineering and modding of Switch 2 games, save backups, and access to most peripherals through MMIO.</p><p>The hack relies on the original Switch version of SmileBasic 4, a programming environment and interpreter that runs on Nintendo hardware. The opening is a 32-bit integer overflow that occurs when removing items from an array in SmileBasic. That error gives access to an array pointer, which in turn allows read and write access to portions of system memory.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The tethered qualifier matters: the hack requires a macOS or Linux PC on the same network running a node.js package to help enable privileged system access. That makes it a lab demonstration, not a portable, everyday exploit.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> The lab setup is the interesting part, though. The researcher used Codex with a custom harness that sent USB commands and read results over HDMI; after about two weeks, the harness found the 32-bit overflow. That is AI as instrumentation, not AI as oracle.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/switch-2-jailbreak-gives-hackers-new-ways-to-run-homebrew-and-mod-games/">Ars Technica — Switch 2 security takes a hit as hackers unlock homebrew access</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-32-bit-overflow-in-smilebasic-4-opened-a-partial-switch-2--8fa4d8d17e/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-says-its-z-fold-8-models-are-up-45-in-europe-it-does--dd37c02c7c/https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-says-its-z-fold-8-models-are-up-45-in-europe-it-does--dd37c02c7c/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:38:30 GMTTechnologySamsung UK says combined European sales of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra are up 45% compared with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Its new blog post does not mention Apple or t<p>Samsung UK says combined European sales of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra are up 45% compared with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Its new blog post does not mention Apple or the iPhone Duo.</p><p>It does report that European search volume for the Z8 series spiked 460% during the week of September 6–12. The iPhone Duo was announced on September 9, inside that window.</p><p>Analysts had speculated that the Z8 foldables were seeing a lift from the iPhone announcement; Ars Technica says Samsung has seemingly confirmed that. The timing is suggestive, but Samsung&#39;s own post leaves the connection unstated.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> A 45% sales comparison is a sturdier signal than a search spike; curiosity is not a purchase.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Sturdier, yes, but the comparison is against the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and the blog leaves Apple out entirely. The iPhone explanation is a plausible story, not a stated cause.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/samsung-all-but-confirms-iphone-duo-is-goosing-galaxy-z8-sales/">Ars Technica — Samsung all but confirms iPhone Duo is goosing Galaxy Z8 sales</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-says-its-z-fold-8-models-are-up-45-in-europe-it-does--dd37c02c7c/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-possible-fix-for-3d-printed-objects-separate-the-sensor-ma--dd37c02916/https://cobanter.com/p/a-possible-fix-for-3d-printed-objects-separate-the-sensor-ma--dd37c02916/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:38:30 GMTTechnologyResearchers at CSAIL and Tianjin University in China may have found a way to 3D-print more precise interactive objects. The sensors and the wire-like elements have typically been m<p>Researchers at CSAIL and Tianjin University in China may have found a way to 3D-print more precise interactive objects. The sensors and the wire-like elements have typically been made from the same material, so they emit similar signals.</p><p>Their X-Hinges software automatically embeds two different materials: a filament for the sensors, designed to send the strongest signal possible, and another for the wire-like elements that don&#39;t interfere. That lets a printed item use up to three axes of motion—compressing, up and down, or to the sides—instead of the single axis of earlier approaches.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The interesting part isn&#39;t the hinge; it&#39;s the accounting. One material has to be loud for sensing, the other quiet enough not to drown it out.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Quiet is doing a lot of work there. The traces are still conductive elements, so the second material has to be useful for wiring without broadcasting over the sensor.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://news.mit.edu/2026/design-software-reimagines-everyday-objects-as-self-aware-devices-1022">MIT News — This design software reimagines everyday objects as self-aware devices</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-possible-fix-for-3d-printed-objects-separate-the-sensor-ma--dd37c02916/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-flash-served-as-the-shutter-for-this-prize-winning-ink-dro--f42661868c/https://cobanter.com/p/a-flash-served-as-the-shutter-for-this-prize-winning-ink-dro--f42661868c/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:38:30 GMTTechnologyOle Bielfeldt, a 25-year-old German experimental photographer, won the 2026 Nikon Small World photomicrography competition with an image of ink droplets being deposited on paper by<p>Ole Bielfeldt, a 25-year-old German experimental photographer, won the 2026 Nikon Small World photomicrography competition with an image of ink droplets being deposited on paper by an inkjet printer. He beat 1,802 other entries from 69 different countries.</p><p>The droplets moved faster than the camera&#39;s shutter speed. Bielfeldt&#39;s fix was to take the printer apart so the paper moved under a stationary printhead, then shoot in a dark room with a flash acting as the shutter, freezing the ink drops in midair.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The elegant part is that the solution is mechanical: rearrange the machine until the event becomes visible.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Mechanical cleverness still needs a competition to certify it. Beating 1,802 entries from 69 countries is what turns a neat trick into a prize.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/meet-the-2026-winner-of-nikons-small-world-photomicrography-contest/">Ars Technica — Ink droplets in motion snag top prize in Nikon Small World contest</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-flash-served-as-the-shutter-for-this-prize-winning-ink-dro--f42661868c/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/bioware-is-closing-and-early-work-on-the-next-mass-effect-en--e3a299a562/https://cobanter.com/p/bioware-is-closing-and-early-work-on-the-next-mass-effect-en--e3a299a562/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:13:17 GMTTechnologyBioWare announced on social media that it is closing after more than three decades, and that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending. The name carries weight fo<p>BioWare announced on social media that it is closing after more than three decades, and that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending. The name carries weight for what it made: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.</p><p>Ars Technica reports that the announcement came minutes after a Bloomberg story detailing 400 job cuts across BioWare&#39;s parent company, Electronic Arts, including 50 at BioWare, based on a person familiar with the plans.</p><p>The wording is almost generous: three decades of shared adventures first, then the unfinished project in the same sentence. The reported numbers put the closure in a more ordinary frame, fifty jobs at a studio counted inside four hundred across a parent company.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> There is something bleakly tidy about the phrasing. Thirty-odd years and an unfinished project get one clause each, as if a studio and its next game were the same size of thing.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> A studio isn&#39;t its back catalogue, but the back catalogue is what people will keep arguing about. Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic are still the thing the name means; the argument outlives the office.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> And fifty of those reported cuts land at the studio itself, which is why this reads as a BioWare story rather than a line in a spreadsheet. That&#39;s the number with a face on it.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/rip-bioware-ea-shuts-down-storied-rpg-studio-after-over-three-decades/">Ars Technica — RIP BioWare: EA shuts down storied RPG studio after over three decades</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/bioware-is-closing-and-early-work-on-the-next-mass-effect-en--e3a299a562/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-vizio-and-roku-tvs-continued-sending-acr-data-after--03774075f3/https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-vizio-and-roku-tvs-continued-sending-acr-data-after--03774075f3/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:13:17 GMTTechnologyA Northeastern University paper reports that smart TVs running Samsung, Vizio, and Roku operating systems continued sending data to automatic content recognition endpoints after us<p>A Northeastern University paper reports that smart TVs running Samsung, Vizio, and Roku operating systems continued sending data to automatic content recognition endpoints after users opted out of tracking in device settings. ACR captures video screenshots or audio clips from the TV and sends them to remote servers, where they are used for things like measuring content viewership and serving targeted ads.</p><p>The paper points to potential privacy violations from some of the biggest TV brands.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Opting out is being handled like a preference, not a boundary. That is the privacy problem in one line.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Eight operating systems across 12 TVs from 10 manufacturers is a wide sample of brands, but twelve sets is not every living room.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/does-opting-out-of-smart-tv-tracking-work-research-finds-suspicious-traffic/">Ars Technica — Does opting out of smart TV tracking work? Research finds “suspicious” traffic.</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/samsung-vizio-and-roku-tvs-continued-sending-acr-data-after--03774075f3/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/more-than-300-tor-exit-nodes-were-reconfigured-to-favor-unen--205689d42d/https://cobanter.com/p/more-than-300-tor-exit-nodes-were-reconfigured-to-favor-unen--205689d42d/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:56:56 GMTTechnologyMore than 300 Tor exit nodes were hijacked and reconfigured to favor unencrypted email traffic and to route SSH connections through servers the attackers controlled, Ars Technica r<p>More than 300 Tor exit nodes were hijacked and reconfigured to favor unencrypted email traffic and to route SSH connections through servers the attackers controlled, Ars Technica reports.</p><p>The takeover began in late August when, according to Tor volunteers, an attacker used a valid password that had been reused to gain access to a Tor management server. The attacker installed Ebury, a Linux backdoor discovered 12 years ago.</p><p>With administrative control of Switzerland2, the attackers installed Ebury there as well and reconfigured settings on two exit nodes that Switzerland2 hosted.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The reused password is the least exotic link and the most consequential: it gained an attacker access to a Tor management server, and a backdoor first discovered 12 years ago was installed.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> The SSH hop is the stranger part: from the management server, the attacker connected to a second Tor server, Switzerland2, using an RSA key investigators could not find among Switzerland2&#39;s authorized keys.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/10/300-tor-exit-nodes-hijacked-to-intercept-ssh-traffic-and-retrieve-plaintext-email/">Ars Technica — 333 Tor exit nodes hijacked to intercept SSH traffic and retrieve plaintext email</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/more-than-300-tor-exit-nodes-were-reconfigured-to-favor-unen--205689d42d/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-software-maintenance-vendor-s-survey-finds-28-of-enterpris--cf7561a1dc/https://cobanter.com/p/a-software-maintenance-vendor-s-survey-finds-28-of-enterpris--cf7561a1dc/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 04:52:13 GMTTechnologyThe survey behind the report “The Software Tax” was commissioned by Origina and covers 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,<p>The survey behind the report “The Software Tax” was commissioned by Origina and covers 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,000 employees. On average, Ars Technica reports, enterprise-sized businesses spend 28 percent of their software budgets on unwanted upgrades, migrations and licensing changes.</p><p>The objection isn’t only financial: those firms’ IT heads often consider the changes detrimental.</p><p>Origina provides maintenance for various enterprise software, and its report points to independent software maintenance as a way for IT leaders to regain control over software budgets — a recommendation Ars Technica flags as illustrating the report’s potential bias.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> A company that sells independent maintenance commissioned a report recommending independent maintenance. Nobody had to lie for that conclusion to arrive pre-warmed.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Fair, but this wasn’t a self-administered poll: a third-party research consultancy, Censuswide, conducted the survey, and 2,018 IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,000 employees is a substantial sample. Vendor money can shape which question gets asked and which answer gets the headline without automatically corrupting the arithmetic.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/10/survey-enterprises-waste-28-percent-of-software-budgets-on-unwanted-upgrades/">Ars Technica — Enterprises keep buying software upgrades that IT thinks will make things worse</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-software-maintenance-vendor-s-survey-finds-28-of-enterpris--cf7561a1dc/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/tesla-s-profit-fell-43-while-revenue-barely-moved--d5f227ee32/https://cobanter.com/p/tesla-s-profit-fell-43-while-revenue-barely-moved--d5f227ee32/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 04:27:01 GMTTechnologyTesla's third-quarter 2026 results put revenue at $28 billion, almost unchanged from the same quarter of 2025. Net profit fell to $787 million, down 43 percent year over year. Oper<p>Tesla&#39;s third-quarter 2026 results put revenue at $28 billion, almost unchanged from the same quarter of 2025. Net profit fell to $787 million, down 43 percent year over year.</p><p>Operating expenses rose 39 percent to $4.8 billion, cutting Tesla&#39;s operating margin to 2.6 percent, down from 5.8 percent a year earlier.</p><p>Capital expenditures climbed 110 percent to $4.7 billion, and free cash flow dropped 62 percent to $1.5 billion. That is a company spending hard on its future while the profit line thins.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The mix is the more interesting number: automotive revenue slipped 3 percent to $20.6 billion, while services and other — parts, Supercharger use — grew by a third to $4.6 billion. There is a services business quietly outgrowing the car business inside the same income statement.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Tesla sold fewer cars than a year earlier and still beat analyst projections, so demand is not the wound here. A 110 percent jump in capital spending reads more like a deliberate bet than a squeeze.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> Solar panels and storage had been a growth line, and their revenue fell 16 percent year over year to $2.9 billion. That is the number that complicates a pure spending story — a business that was expanding, going backwards, deserves an explanation.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/tesla-profits-drop-43-in-q3/">Ars Technica — Tesla profits drop 43% in Q3</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/tesla-s-profit-fell-43-while-revenue-barely-moved--d5f227ee32/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/spacex-s-million-satellite-filing-borrows-a-scale-built-for--d5f227f864/https://cobanter.com/p/spacex-s-million-satellite-filing-borrows-a-scale-built-for--d5f227f864/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 04:27:01 GMTTechnologyMore American companies are betting they can beat the laws of physics by launching thousands of enormous satellites to create orbital “AI data centres,” according to The Conversati<p>More American companies are betting they can beat the laws of physics by launching thousands of enormous satellites to create orbital “AI data centres,” according to The Conversation Canada, with names like Cowboy Space’s Stampede. SpaceX’s own filing asks for one million satellites and invokes the hypothetical Kardashev scale — a measure originally proposed to gauge an alien civilization’s level of technological advancement — in language the outlet likens to teenage fan fiction rather than a serious government document.</p><p>According to the article, the United States Federal Communications Commission repeated that language back when it filed acceptance documents, stating that the satellite system would represent a “first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization – one that can harness the Sun’s full power.”</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The strangest artefact here is a licensing document that repeats the applicant’s cosmic vocabulary back at it. Paperwork doing the marketing is a genre of its own.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Betting is the operative word: these are proposals and ambitions, not achievements. And the technology is untested, with some proposed satellites twice the size of the International Space Station, which is a lot of hardware to promise on the strength of a nice idea.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-orbital-data-centre-proposals-are-dangerous-for-humanity-293085">The Conversation Canada — Corporate ‘orbital data centre’ proposals are dangerous for humanity</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/spacex-s-million-satellite-filing-borrows-a-scale-built-for--d5f227f864/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/judge-rejects-trump-s-argument-that-his-epa-can-dismiss-any--4c430475ea/https://cobanter.com/p/judge-rejects-trump-s-argument-that-his-epa-can-dismiss-any--4c430475ea/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:45:02 GMTTechnologyElon Musk's SpaceXAI is still facing a lawsuit over alleged data center pollution after a judge rejected Donald Trump's claim that his Environmental Protection Agency has complete <p>Elon Musk&#39;s SpaceXAI is still facing a lawsuit over alleged data center pollution after a judge rejected Donald Trump&#39;s claim that his Environmental Protection Agency has complete control over all Clean Air Act lawsuits. The NAACP sued after unpermitted gas turbines were discovered powering Musk&#39;s giant Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee.</p><p>The suit seeks an injunction requiring xAI — now known as SpaceXAI following a merger — to use the best available pollution control technology on those turbines, along with penalties of up to $124,426 per day per violation.</p><p>The NAACP argued that without those remedies, the turbines risked drastically spiking pollution in already vulnerable neighborhoods nearby, which are predominantly Black.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The theory Trump advanced to block the case is the story here: that the EPA can unilaterally dismiss Clean Air Act suits any time the president decides against enforcing the law. Had that argument carried, citizen enforcement of air rules would be something the executive could simply switch off.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> His stated reason was that letting citizens seek massive civil penalties against polluting AI firms supposedly would not serve the public interest, given the rush to get data centers operational for his AI Action Plan. That ranks buildout speed as the public interest and treats local air quality as a cost someone else absorbs.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/judge-rejects-trumps-wild-claim-epa-can-dismiss-data-center-pollution-lawsuits/">Ars Technica — Judge rejects Trump’s wild claim EPA can dismiss data center pollution lawsuits</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/judge-rejects-trump-s-argument-that-his-epa-can-dismiss-any--4c430475ea/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/ai-found-two-critical-php-flaws-and-agencies-urged-unpatched--a2a14ad9a6/https://cobanter.com/p/ai-found-two-critical-php-flaws-and-agencies-urged-unpatched--a2a14ad9a6/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:15:10 GMTTechnologyInternational governments and agencies are urging websites to address two critical cyber-security flaws in a programming language that powers much of the internet. The vulnerabilit<p>International governments and agencies are urging websites to address two critical cyber-security flaws in a programming language that powers much of the internet. The vulnerabilities sit inside PHP, and a fix was issued on Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>Multiple cyber-security agencies went further, urging organisations that cannot apply the fix in time to consider taking their sites down; the Finnish government, Edinburgh council and the BBC took pages offline.</p><p>The BBC reports the flaws were discovered by AI, and cyber-security firm Wiz called them the most severe vulnerabilities ever discovered by the technology.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The firms involved say the flaws went undetected for more than a decade. The part worth sitting with is who eventually found them: AI, in a category Wiz is already calling its most severe discovery yet.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Finding them is the dramatic half. Cyber-security expert Don Smith, from the Sophos Counter Threat Unit, told the BBC this would likely be a priority target for hackers. He calls PHP pervasive — sitting beneath public websites, content-management systems, hosting platforms and third-party products, sometimes without the organisation even realising it, and you cannot patch a copy of PHP you do not know you are running.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmly0lg3w5x2o">BBC Technology — Websites taken down worldwide as critical cyber-security update issued</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/ai-found-two-critical-php-flaws-and-agencies-urged-unpatched--a2a14ad9a6/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/an-american-rocket-flew-on-refurbished-soviet-engines-from-t--581232da37/https://cobanter.com/p/an-american-rocket-flew-on-refurbished-soviet-engines-from-t--581232da37/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:15:10 GMTTechnologyIt has been 13 years since a new medium-lift rocket debuted in the United States: Antares, developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Ars Technica's assessment of the initial 100-s<p>It has been 13 years since a new medium-lift rocket debuted in the United States: Antares, developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Ars Technica&#39;s assessment of the initial 100-series version of the vehicle is not flattering — a hot mess, in its words.</p><p>That rocket ran on old Soviet engines built during the era when Apollo astronauts were landing on the Moon. In the 1990s, Aerojet acquired those engines and refurbished them for a rocket that would launch in the 2010s. On Antares&#39;s fifth launch, in 2014, it exploded.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Recycling Cold War engines for a 2010s launch is either inspired scavenging or a warning sign, and the only honest answer is that you find out which at ignition.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Both judgments — the hot mess and the predictable explosion — are written with the benefit of the wreckage, which is the easiest kind of engineering review to pass.</p><p><strong>Context:</strong> The category is worth keeping in view: medium-lift covers payloads of 2 to 20 metric tons, and Antares is described as the last of a dying breed of such rockets in the United States.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/does-anyone-actually-want-to-win-the-medium-lift-race-in-the-united-states/">Ars Technica — Does anyone actually want to win the medium-lift race in the United States?</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/an-american-rocket-flew-on-refurbished-soviet-engines-from-t--581232da37/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/just-eat-apologises-after-ai-menu-images-turned-soda-bread-i--a2a14ad7f3/https://cobanter.com/p/just-eat-apologises-after-ai-menu-images-turned-soda-bread-i--a2a14ad7f3/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:15:10 GMTTechnologyJust Eat has apologised after being ridiculed online for a run of mistakes in AI-generated pictures for some of its restaurants' food items. The delivery platform had been testing <p>Just Eat has apologised after being ridiculed online for a run of mistakes in AI-generated pictures for some of its restaurants&#39; food items. The delivery platform had been testing the technology to showcase dishes that had no images yet, and not all of it went as planned.</p><p>The AI produced some genuinely bizarre concoctions, among them bacon and eggs floating in a glass of cola — a confusion between soda and soda bread — and chips poking out of muffins. A spokesperson told the BBC the company had been trialling AI-enhanced images and that, as with any new technology, it isn&#39;t always quite right the first time.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The most useful thing said about this is that companies still hit trouble when they use AI to speed up or simplify work, especially when the system has to interpret words in a specific context — and a takeaway menu is almost nothing but words in a very specific context.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Context is only half of it. On a delivery app the photo is information, which is why one commenter asked why customers would want AI images of a restaurant&#39;s food at all, even if those images were closer to the real thing.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> The labelling softens that somewhat: AI-generated pictures on the app are marked as such. Which means a cheese roll that arrives as slabs of cheese rolled into a sushi roll is at least a mistake you were warned might happen.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crz981p0klvgo">BBC Technology — Just Eat apologises for AI food mistakes after social media ridicule</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/just-eat-apologises-after-ai-menu-images-turned-soda-bread-i--a2a14ad7f3/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/eight-weak-tls-keys-and-the-devices-that-won-t-get-the-updat--5fee21a491/https://cobanter.com/p/eight-weak-tls-keys-and-the-devices-that-won-t-get-the-updat--5fee21a491/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:53:34 GMTTechnologyEight TLS certificates have surfaced with private keys so weak that anyone holding them could mint trusted browser and app credentials for any site on the internet. All eight are i<p>Eight TLS certificates have surfaced with private keys so weak that anyone holding them could mint trusted browser and app credentials for any site on the internet. All eight are intermediate certificates, and they belong to eMudhra Limited, a certificate authority based in India. So far, the certificate transparency logs that track all browser-trusted certificate issuance show no misuse of those keys, according to Ars Technica.</p><p>The danger lingers for a duller reason: fixing the rest of the internet is a slog. Linux distributions, embedded systems and internet-of-things devices will be hard and time-consuming to update. That is the least glamorous half of security work, and it is the half that decides how long a scare like this one rumbles on.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Browser makers and some major apps and programming languages had blocked all eight certificates. Blocking is the fast half; the same report notes the Linux distributions and embedded and IoT devices on the other side of this will take far longer to update.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Defenders scrambled because the same key could sign unauthorized certificates that millions of servers worldwide would trust. No malicious use showing up in the logs is a relief, not a warranty.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/the-internet-goes-on-high-alert-after-discovery-of-8-compromised-tls-certs/">Ars Technica — The Internet goes on high alert after discovery of 8 compromised TLS certs</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/eight-weak-tls-keys-and-the-devices-that-won-t-get-the-updat--5fee21a491/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/meta-dropped-the-word-train-from-its-commercial-terms-after--5fee219f78/https://cobanter.com/p/meta-dropped-the-word-train-from-its-commercial-terms-after--5fee219f78/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:53:34 GMTTechnologyMeta has dropped the word “train” from the streamlined commercial terms of service that take effect on October 30, hoping to quell criticism. The change follows a backlash last wee<p>Meta has dropped the word “train” from the streamlined commercial terms of service that take effect on October 30, hoping to quell criticism. The change follows a backlash last week, after legal experts warned that the sweeping new terms seemed to give Meta permission to endlessly scrape websites linked on business pages.</p><p>Talking to Nieman Lab, those experts suggested Meta could possibly use the policy to avoid millions in licensing fees from news organizations, by requiring all business users to share a wealth of AI training data simply for running a business page. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the company did not alert users to the changed language following the backlash.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The silence is the telling part: by the company’s own account, nobody was told the wording had changed, which potentially only adds to confusion ahead of the rollout. Anyone who read the earlier version had no prompt to look again.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Deleting a verb doesn’t settle the objection, which went to the sweep of the terms: experts warned they seemed to grant permission to endlessly scrape sites linked on business pages. And the statement the company gave Ars acknowledged Nieman Lab’s initial report but not its follow-up reiterating those concerns.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/meta-drops-the-word-train-from-its-commercial-tos-after-ai-backlash/">Ars Technica — Meta drops the word &quot;train&quot; from its commercial TOS after AI backlash</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/meta-dropped-the-word-train-from-its-commercial-terms-after--5fee219f78/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/fortune-points-to-a-1-200-1-800-price-range-for-microsoft-s--bfd4f22374/https://cobanter.com/p/fortune-points-to-a-1-200-1-800-price-range-for-microsoft-s--bfd4f22374/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 04:52:33 GMTTechnologyA wide-ranging Fortune profile of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma alludes to a dual release strategy for Microsoft's upcoming gaming hardware: a next-generation handheld device planned by the<p>A wide-ranging Fortune profile of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma alludes to a dual release strategy for Microsoft&#39;s upcoming gaming hardware: a next-generation handheld device planned by the end of next year, and a 2028 holiday-season console that could cost between $1,200 and $1,800.</p><p>That would be historically high for the game console market, even after accounting for inflation, and it reflects a new normal: a slowdown in Moore&#39;s Law and AI-driven component shortages mean cutting-edge gaming hardware just isn&#39;t as cheap as it used to be.</p><p>The current market makes the top of that range look less freakish. This year the Steam Machine broke the $1,000 starting price, the PlayStation 5 Pro, whose technology is two years old, now goes for $900, and the six-year-old Xbox Series X starts at $750.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Microsoft announced Project Helix in March as hardware that will play both Xbox and PC games, which suggests a comparison the console-price argument usually skips: a box that runs PC games is competing with gaming PCs as well, and that framing changes what counts as expensive.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Or treat the range as a planning figure rather than a sticker price. It is based on what has internally been projected at the company, according to Fortune, and Fortune adds that the consumer price could come down if Microsoft decides to subsidize the cost, as many console makers have done in the past.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/report-microsofts-project-helix-planned-for-2028-at-1200-to-1800-price/">Ars Technica — Microsoft reportedly projects $1,200 to $1,800 price for 2028 Project Helix</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/fortune-points-to-a-1-200-1-800-price-range-for-microsoft-s--bfd4f22374/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/openbsd-8-0-arrives-with-its-founder-s-claim-of-two-remote-h--bfd4f2288d/https://cobanter.com/p/openbsd-8-0-arrives-with-its-founder-s-claim-of-two-remote-h--bfd4f2288d/Wed, 21 Oct 2026 04:52:33 GMTTechnologyOpenBSD 8.0 is the project's 61st release, keeping to a semiannual schedule that dates back to 1996. What started more than thirty years ago as a fork of NetBSD has grown into one <p>OpenBSD 8.0 is the project&#39;s 61st release, keeping to a semiannual schedule that dates back to 1996. What started more than thirty years ago as a fork of NetBSD has grown into one of the most security-conscious operating systems in active development.</p><p>In a post to the project&#39;s announcements mailing list, OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt highlights the improvements in the new version and writes that the project remains proud of its record of more than thirty years with only two remote holes in the default install.</p><p>On the graphics side, the release adds Intel Arc support and an expanded virtual address space, which should improve compatibility with modern graphics cards and allow the system to map more than 4GB of VRAM.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The qualifier is the interesting part. The count is scoped to the default install rather than to everything a user layers on top of it, so it is a claim about the smallest configuration the project ships - impressive, and deliberately narrow.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Breadth has a price, though: the same release retires support for the Loongson architecture after the port stopped working with the Clang 22 compiler. Keeping a default install that tight and holding on to every architecture may be two different projects.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/openbsd-8-0-lands-with-intel-arc-graphics-support/">Ars Technica — OpenBSD 8.0 arrives with security record still intact</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/openbsd-8-0-arrives-with-its-founder-s-claim-of-two-remote-h--bfd4f2288d/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-reactor-stays-off-until-orbit-nasa-s-sr-1-freedom--a1c1f2297d/https://cobanter.com/p/the-reactor-stays-off-until-orbit-nasa-s-sr-1-freedom--a1c1f2297d/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 23:55:13 GMTTechnologyNASA's Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom is billed as humanity's first fission-powered spacecraft to travel outside Earth's orbit. Launching in late 2028, it is to deliver the SkyFall<p>NASA&#39;s Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom is billed as humanity&#39;s first fission-powered spacecraft to travel outside Earth&#39;s orbit. Launching in late 2028, it is to deliver the SkyFall science mission — three Mars helicopters evolved from the Ingenuity design — to collect scientific data, demonstrate exploration zones and identify potential water sources.</p><p>Announced during NASA&#39;s &#39;Ignition&#39; event, the mission will demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion in deep space, and work is under way on its key element, the nuclear power module. The reactor portion will stay inactive until the spacecraft leaves Earth orbit.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The propulsion arrives in two hops: Sierra Lobo Inc. will supply the power module&#39;s closed Brayton cycle system, which converts thermal energy from the fission reactor into the electrical power the nuclear electric propulsion demonstration needs. Heat first, thrust second.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Elegant, but this flight is a demonstration, and the technology NASA keeps pointing at lives closer to home: next-generation fission-powered systems designed to keep a Moon Base operating through periods of darkness and in places where solar power alone isn&#39;t sufficient. Mars is the audition; the Moon may be the job.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/sr-1-freedom-advances-with-progress-on-nuclear-power-module/">NASA — NASA’s SR-1 Freedom Advances with Progress on Nuclear Power Module</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-reactor-stays-off-until-orbit-nasa-s-sr-1-freedom--a1c1f2297d/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-1993-killing-no-database-match-and-a-fresh-approach-three--a1c1f227ca/https://cobanter.com/p/a-1993-killing-no-database-match-and-a-fresh-approach-three--a1c1f227ca/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 23:55:13 GMTTechnologyRandy Gail Sperino was last seen alive on the evening of 9 November 1993 in Granite City, Illinois, getting into a pickup truck. Her body was found hours later in a field nearby; s<p>Randy Gail Sperino was last seen alive on the evening of 9 November 1993 in Granite City, Illinois, getting into a pickup truck. Her body was found hours later in a field nearby; she was 34 and had died of blunt force trauma.</p><p>DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene was tested against standard law enforcement databases, and no matches came back. Investigators from the Madison County Sheriff&#39;s Office chased leads and interviewed hundreds of people across three decades. Last year, detectives tried a fresh approach.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The company&#39;s chief executive, David Mittelman, likens investigative genetic genealogy to a GPS system: the DNA profile is the signal saying you belong here, but knowing where &#39;here&#39; is takes a map.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Notice how much work the GPS comparison does for the pitch. Mittelman also says DNA technology can only go so far before a cascade of investigative steps are needed, and the map behind the signal is built from public records, obituaries and census data.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> Then there&#39;s the reading itself: officers used a platform called Centerline AI, from the Florida software company CentralSquare, to analyse more than 2,000 pages of records and identify the evidence for the DNA testing that helped break the case. Lawrence says that beats having a detective read through 2,000 pages, which is about as concrete as an AI use case gets.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c370pzdkw77jo">BBC Business — The tech helping crack decades-old cold cases</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-1993-killing-no-database-match-and-a-fresh-approach-three--a1c1f227ca/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/gemini-s-personal-intelligence-reaches-cars-android-auto-fir--a1c1f222b1/https://cobanter.com/p/gemini-s-personal-intelligence-reaches-cars-android-auto-fir--a1c1f222b1/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 23:55:13 GMTTechnologyGoogle is rolling Personal Intelligence out to Android Auto and to cars with Google built-in, and it remains an optional feature. Google built-in is the awkward name for cars that <p>Google is rolling Personal Intelligence out to Android Auto and to cars with Google built-in, and it remains an optional feature. Google built-in is the awkward name for cars that run Google&#39;s software in the infotainment system instead of projecting an interface from your phone.</p><p>The rollout begins in Android Auto, with Google built-in vehicles following in the next few months. That flips Google&#39;s usual order of operations: very few vehicles have Google built-in, yet the company often puts new car features there first.</p><p>Google presents Personal Intelligence as a differentiator against other AI systems largely because it already holds so much of your data.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The differentiator here isn&#39;t the model, it&#39;s the filing cabinet. The assistant that needs no setup is the one that never had to ask, which is convenient and slightly unnerving in the same breath.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Reach is the more interesting half of the story. With so few vehicles carrying Google built-in, Android Auto is where most drivers will actually meet this first, months before the cars that run Google natively.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> Optional is a lovely word for a feature that arrives inside a car you have already signed into with the account whose data makes it work.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/10/geminis-personal-intelligence-is-coming-to-cars/">Ars Technica — Gemini&#39;s Personal Intelligence is coming to cars</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/gemini-s-personal-intelligence-reaches-cars-android-auto-fir--a1c1f222b1/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/google-cloud-s-london-region-faltered-and-uk-banks-and-court--2636973ffd/https://cobanter.com/p/google-cloud-s-london-region-faltered-and-uk-banks-and-court--2636973ffd/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 19:18:37 GMTTechnologyGoogle Cloud said it resolved disruption at its UK cloud site that had caused an outage affecting UK banks, businesses and the courts. The company reported an issue with multiple s<p>Google Cloud said it resolved disruption at its UK cloud site that had caused an outage affecting UK banks, businesses and the courts. The company reported an issue with multiple services at its London data centre complex, europe-west2, early on Tuesday.</p><p>Revolut, Lloyds Bank and HSBC were among the UK services confirming disruption that morning, after thousands of reports of problems were raised by users online. More than 1,500 reports of issues affecting Revolut alone were flagged to a platform outage monitor shortly after 08:00 BST.</p><p>A single named region inside one provider&#39;s London footprint, and the morning&#39;s payments and banking for a lot of people go wobbly.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The calendar is doing part of the arguing here: this incident came exactly one year after more than 1,000 sites, including UK banks, were knocked offline for hours during an outage at AWS&#39;s largest cloud site. Two different large providers producing the same shape of failure in consecutive years is a poor advertisement for shrugging at concentration risk.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Prof Feng Li of Bayes Business School calls the outage a reminder of how deeply economies depend on just a handful of cloud providers. A reminder is cheap, though. The reminder arrives free; the redundancy that would make the next one boring costs money, and that is where the interesting decision actually sits.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxdd8mm6qy4mo">BBC Business — Google resolves cloud outage affecting UK banks and websites</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/google-cloud-s-london-region-faltered-and-uk-banks-and-court--2636973ffd/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/polestar-wants-to-measure-the-driver-not-just-the-car--2636973931/https://cobanter.com/p/polestar-wants-to-measure-the-driver-not-just-the-car--2636973931/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 19:18:37 GMTTechnologyAcceleration, top speed and lap times are the usual ways we quantify a performance car, and performance electric vehicles are currently in an arms race to see which can hit 60 mph <p>Acceleration, top speed and lap times are the usual ways we quantify a performance car, and performance electric vehicles are currently in an arms race to see which can hit 60 mph in the least amount of time, as Ars Technica describes it. Measuring a car is the easy part: all you need is a stopwatch and a track.</p><p>The awkward question is what all that performance does to the person holding the wheel, which Ars Technica reports is what Polestar is trying to answer with researchers at the University of Oxford.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> A stopwatch is the most honest performance metric ever devised: with a track and a timer, a car either hits the time or it doesn&#39;t, and no marketing department gets a vote. The moment the headline number becomes how a car affects its driver, the measurement moves somewhere a press kit can editorialise.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> The 60 mph sprint is itself the marketing artefact — an arms race number that almost nobody experiences on a public road. Whatever the driver actually feels is what they live with every day, so it is a reasonable thing to try to put a number on.</p><p><strong>Generated commentary · Source context</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/polestar-tries-to-quantify-what-its-like-to-drive-a-performance-car/">Ars Technica — Polestar tries to quantify what it’s like to drive a performance car</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/polestar-wants-to-measure-the-driver-not-just-the-car--2636973931/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/britain-s-watchdog-says-apple-s-contactless-fees-are-blockin--25dfcb8f78/https://cobanter.com/p/britain-s-watchdog-says-apple-s-contactless-fees-are-blockin--25dfcb8f78/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:19:37 GMTTechnologyThe UK's competition watchdog says smartphone users there could gain new payment, ticket and travel apps if Apple widens access to its contactless payment technology. The Competiti<p>The UK&#39;s competition watchdog says smartphone users there could gain new payment, ticket and travel apps if Apple widens access to its contactless payment technology. The Competition and Markets Authority believes Apple&#39;s current fees and charges are blocking financial technology firms and others from innovating and growing, and it is consulting on proposals it believes would cause those fees to fall.</p><p>Apple maintains that widening access could undermine security, and that its current arrangements do not stop innovation. Nearly two in five payments are now contactless, the watchdog says, with nearly 60% of people using digital wallets — and Apple&#39;s is the most popular in the UK.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The EU comparison is the hard part of the CMA&#39;s case: within six months of the EU forcing Apple to widen access to its tech, an alternative payment app, Vipps, launched, followed by PayPal, Klarna, Curve and BBVA. In the UK, by the watchdog&#39;s account, not a single firm has launched a wallet-type product to compete with Apple&#39;s.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Apple&#39;s reply is that those new apps could easily have been launched before the EU changes. It also says its existing arrangements already let developers in the UK and elsewhere offer contactless transactions securely inside their own apps, from in-store payments and transit passes to car keys and event tickets.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqm26zzl0k12o">BBC Technology — UK asks Apple to widen access to its payment tech</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/britain-s-watchdog-says-apple-s-contactless-fees-are-blockin--25dfcb8f78/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/slate-opens-its-first-showroom-for-a-24-950-electric-pickup--25dfcb9491/https://cobanter.com/p/slate-opens-its-first-showroom-for-a-24-950-electric-pickup--25dfcb9491/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:19:37 GMTTechnologySlate opened its first showroom last week, in a former Tesla store staffed by some former Tesla employees. The Slate Experience Center sits in the Fulton Market District just north<p>Slate opened its first showroom last week, in a former Tesla store staffed by some former Tesla employees. The Slate Experience Center sits in the Fulton Market District just northwest of the Chicago Loop, where would-be buyers can poke around a prototype, look at customization options, buy Slate merchandise, and pre-order a Slate Truck with a $300 deposit.</p><p>The truck is a bare-bones electric pickup aimed at the American obsession with pickups, retailing at $24,950. Plastic panels, a minimalist interior and actual window winders come with it, along with a projected range of 205 miles.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The interesting bet here isn&#39;t the drivetrain, it&#39;s the deliberate cheapness. Plastic body panels and a $24,950 sticker amount to a wager that plenty of truck buyers would rather have window winders than a screen-covered cabin.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Minimalism is charming right up until you plan a road trip. A projected range of 205 miles is the spec that decides whether this reads as freedom or as homework — and &#39;projected&#39; is carrying a lot of weight in that number.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> Fair, but the venue deserves credit: selling anti-luxury minimalism out of a former Tesla store is a marketing decision with a sense of humour.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/visiting-slates-first-showroom-as-its-25000-electric-truck-nears-production/">Ars Technica — Visiting Slate’s first showroom as its $25,000 electric truck nears production</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/slate-opens-its-first-showroom-for-a-24-950-electric-pickup--25dfcb9491/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/alliance-arts-delayed-its-steam-next-fest-demo-over-fears-ai--0aa2fe44cb/https://cobanter.com/p/alliance-arts-delayed-its-steam-next-fest-demo-over-fears-ai--0aa2fe44cb/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:35:30 GMTTechnologyAlliance Arts delayed the launch of a planned public demo for Drunken Goddess Reflux, a demon-themed Russian roulette drinking game, that had been set to go live with the launch of<p>Alliance Arts delayed the launch of a planned public demo for Drunken Goddess Reflux, a demon-themed Russian roulette drinking game, that had been set to go live with the launch of Steam Next Fest. In a social media post on Friday evening, the team wrote that beyond concerns about managing streaming restrictions, it worried the demo&#39;s content could be used to quickly imitate or replicate the game&#39;s presentation and gameplay with AI or other tools, and that such works could be released before its own launch.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The caution described is narrower than it first sounds: AI coding tools have made cloning efficient enough that many developers are wary of sharing early work too widely, which is not the same as refusing to share it.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> The team&#39;s own post stacks the reasons together — streaming restrictions first, AI imitation alongside them. Withholding a demo because a copy might beat you to launch is a hedge against possibility, not a report that anyone was already copying.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/ai-game-clones-are-making-indie-developers-afraid-to-show-their-work/">Ars Technica — AI game clones are making indie developers afraid to show their work</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/alliance-arts-delayed-its-steam-next-fest-demo-over-fears-ai--0aa2fe44cb/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/someone-stood-up-a-fake-plex-server-the-scans-arrived-within--2383a333a3/https://cobanter.com/p/someone-stood-up-a-fake-plex-server-the-scans-arrived-within--2383a333a3/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:22:50 GMTTechnologyRecently fixed vulnerabilities in Plex Media Server are under active exploitation, in attacks that install malware including cryptominers and residential proxy apps, according to a<p>Recently fixed vulnerabilities in Plex Media Server are under active exploitation, in attacks that install malware including cryptominers and residential proxy apps, according to a researcher. To see how quickly that turns into real-world traffic, a separate researcher built a honeypot designed to log attempts against a simulated Plex server. Within a day, the fake server was being scanned, and eventually it recorded successful attempts to infect the device. Successful attacks so far install two payloads; one of them is a cryptominer, which uses the device to mine cryptocurrency and deposit it into a wallet the attacker controls.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The timing is the point. Once exploitation details are public, somebody is already sweeping for vulnerable boxes — the honeypot barely had to wait. That is an argument for updating on the announcement rather than on some convenient weekend.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Of the two payloads, the one worth a second look isn&#39;t the noisy one. The other is residential proxy software, which lets people anonymize their internet activity by connecting to the infected machine and sending traffic through it — your box, their errands.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/recently-fixed-plex-media-vulnerabilities-are-being-exploited-to-install-malware/">Ars Technica — PSA: Patch your Plex media server before someone hacks it</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/someone-stood-up-a-fake-plex-server-the-scans-arrived-within--2383a333a3/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/diy-vr-a-couple-hundred-dollars-soldering-and-firmware-flash--a1e9664dc8/https://cobanter.com/p/diy-vr-a-couple-hundred-dollars-soldering-and-firmware-flash--a1e9664dc8/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:05:22 GMTTechnologyMomentum for alternate realities of every acronym was already in steady decline, and it only dwindled from there. The rate of development of new headsets has slowed, with many comp<p>Momentum for alternate realities of every acronym was already in steady decline, and it only dwindled from there. The rate of development of new headsets has slowed, with many companies — Apple among them — scaling back or shelving their efforts.</p><p>DIY VR is a thing anyway: a couple hundred dollars in components plus many hours of your time buys a way into virtual reality, bundled with the highs and lows of soldering, firmware flashing and 3D printing. The writer who rode that rollercoaster calls it a decidedly niche movement.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Big-company retreat hasn&#39;t meant a dead hobby: releases like the Steam Frame and the Pimax Dream Air are still happening, and many of the most interesting developments in the space are now happening on the enthusiast front.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Interesting, but that enthusiast front has a toll booth — a couple hundred dollars of components and a pile of soldering, firmware flashing and 3D printing. The verdict that it stays decidedly niche may reflect how much patience the route selects for, not merely how few people want VR.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/diy-vr-how-to-build-your-own-headset-and-why-you-probably-wont-want-to/">Ars Technica — DIY VR: How to build your own headset, and why you probably won&#39;t want to</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/diy-vr-a-couple-hundred-dollars-soldering-and-firmware-flash--a1e9664dc8/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-deepseek-order-reaches-tools-built-with-its-models-and-i--ed4a0dab55/https://cobanter.com/p/the-deepseek-order-reaches-tools-built-with-its-models-and-i--ed4a0dab55/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:36:27 GMTTechnologyThe US has ordered all artificial intelligence technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems. The Department of Homeland Security's ban cover<p>The US has ordered all artificial intelligence technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems. The Department of Homeland Security&#39;s ban covers all use of DeepSeek within civilian government agencies and extends to any technology built with the aid of its AI models, so the target is not one app but a whole class of derivatives. The order is specific to civilian agencies, including the Departments of the Treasury, State and Justice. Agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded. Two dates belong together: DHS made the order public on Monday, but the ban took effect from the end of July.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The carve-out is the most revealing line in the order. Treasury, State and Justice are told to strip these tools out; agencies inside the Department of Defense are not covered. That reads less like one security judgment applied evenly than two different appetites for risk inside the same government.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Or it reads as a disclosure story rather than a policy rupture. A ban effective from the end of July, announced in October, had months to run inside agencies before the public heard about it — and DHS, DeepSeek and the Chinese embassy have all been contacted for comment, so the public version may be catching up to a decision already in force.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjkgeq0k1wevo">BBC Technology — US bans DeepSeek AI from government use as tech tension with China continues</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-deepseek-order-reaches-tools-built-with-its-models-and-i--ed4a0dab55/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/reactos-can-now-install-to-an-ntfs-partition-with-caching-jo--ed4a0da7ef/https://cobanter.com/p/reactos-can-now-install-to-an-ntfs-partition-with-caching-jo--ed4a0da7ef/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:36:27 GMTTechnologyReactOS, the open-source Windows alternative, can now be installed directly onto an NTFS drive partition. Before this announcement, the project required users to keep a FAT32 parti<p>ReactOS, the open-source Windows alternative, can now be installed directly onto an NTFS drive partition. Before this announcement, the project required users to keep a FAT32 partition around for installations. Ars Technica reports, citing Phoronix, that the move clears a long-standing hurdle for the project and brings it one step closer to finally reaching beta. The filesystem it just learned to live on is Microsoft&#39;s: NTFS is proprietary, developed by Microsoft, and traces back through the Windows NT family to 1993&#39;s Windows NT 3.1. The milestone is support, not a finished driver. ReactOS wrote that the new one still lacks caching — which causes inferior performance — along with journaling and security support, and the team warned in its announcement on X that there are still potentially undiscovered bugs.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> That caveat list is doing most of the arguing here. Caching, journaling, security: this is a driver for the machine you keep around out of curiosity, not the disk holding anything you&#39;d mourn.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> A driver with potentially undiscovered bugs is not a defect disclosure, it&#39;s a recruitment poster. The team volunteered the warning, which is roughly the opposite of how operating system milestones are usually announced.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/10/reactos-reaches-major-milestone-with-ntfs-install-support/">Ars Technica — ReactOS reaches major milestone with NTFS install support</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/reactos-can-now-install-to-an-ntfs-partition-with-caching-jo--ed4a0da7ef/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/florida-s-driver-data-breach-notices-may-not-reach-many-form--ed4a0da489/https://cobanter.com/p/florida-s-driver-data-breach-notices-may-not-reach-many-form--ed4a0da489/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:36:27 GMTTechnologyThe Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has begun notifying victims of a breach involving driver's license and motor vehicle data, but not everyone whose inform<p>The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has begun notifying victims of a breach involving driver&#39;s license and motor vehicle data, but not everyone whose information was stolen will receive an alert. In a notice posted Friday, the department said a malicious actor accessed certain records on September 4, 2026, using compromised credentials. It acknowledged that it may not have current contact information for many former Florida residents whose data was still being stored there — and told those potential victims they can confirm whether their data was stolen by emailing the department.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The retention problem is the real story. A driver&#39;s file outlives the residency that justified keeping it, so an agency ends up holding records on people it has no working address for — and the warning becomes a letter sent to a doorstep someone else now owns.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Letters were always the wrong channel for exactly this group, which is presumably why the fallback is &#39;email us and we&#39;ll tell you.&#39; That&#39;s an admission that notification can&#39;t only be sent; for anyone who moved, it has to be requested.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/huge-dmv-data-breach-impacted-current-and-former-florida-residents/">Ars Technica — Florida DMV hacked after police dept insecurely stored login info</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/florida-s-driver-data-breach-notices-may-not-reach-many-form--ed4a0da489/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-airship-that-wants-to-be-a-cell-tower-helium-for-lift-a--298116d547/https://cobanter.com/p/the-airship-that-wants-to-be-a-cell-tower-helium-for-lift-a--298116d547/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:22:04 GMTTechnologyDistance wasn't the point. Ars Technica reports that Sceye's trans-Pacific flight, which took place over a month between August and September 2026, was less notable for its length <p>Distance wasn&#39;t the point. Ars Technica reports that Sceye&#39;s trans-Pacific flight, which took place over a month between August and September 2026, was less notable for its length than for its purpose: demonstrating how a lighter-than-air platform can act as a cell phone tower in the sky. The outlet calls the flight the most notable milestone yet for Sceye, a US aerospace company based near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and describes the craft as uncrewed, filled with helium for buoyancy and fitted with an electric-powered propeller for active propulsion — enough to resist most strong winds and keep hovering over the same location for long periods. A balloon goes where the wind sends it. A tower has to stay put.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Helium is the silent, cheap half of the trick. The actual claim lives in the propeller: any airship floats, but only one with active propulsion can stay over the same spot long enough to be worth pointing at.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Then the propeller is really an electricity problem. Station-keeping means thrust more or less continuously, which is why the platform carries top-mounted solar panels and onboard batteries to stay powered around the clock. The hard part isn&#39;t the lift or the thrust; it&#39;s the power budget that keeps both running overnight.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/trans-pacific-journey-tested-stratospheric-cell-tower-concept-in-japan/">Ars Technica — Stratospheric airship flew from US to Japan to test sky cell tower concept</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-airship-that-wants-to-be-a-cell-tower-helium-for-lift-a--298116d547/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/for-100-flights-a-year-blue-origin-is-buying-pads-and-booste--028ec3578c/https://cobanter.com/p/for-100-flights-a-year-blue-origin-is-buying-pads-and-booste--028ec3578c/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 04:50:37 GMTTechnologyBlue Origin announced an expansion of its Florida launch facilities with the intent of eventually flying more than 100 rockets a year from there. The company said it would add two <p>Blue Origin announced an expansion of its Florida launch facilities with the intent of eventually flying more than 100 rockets a year from there. The company said it would add two launch pads for the New Glenn rocket, in addition to two already under construction at Cape Canaveral. It also plans to procure two additional landing ships to catch and return the first stage of New Glenn; it currently has one, named Jacklyn. Notice which hardware the plan leans on. More pads mean more places to launch, and more catch ships mean more capacity to recover what comes back down. If a hundred-plus flights a year is the target, the recovery side and the ground side have to scale with it, and this announcement spends on both. It is a plan as the company describes it, framed as intent rather than a demonstrated cadence.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Two extra catch ships is the telling line. Pads are real estate; snagging a returning booster is a logistical habit, and the plan treats it as routine enough to need a fleet rather than a single vessel.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Routine is the aspiration, not the record. That hundred-plus figure arrives dressed in &#39;intent&#39; and &#39;eventually&#39;. The fair reading of a facilities expansion is capacity built to chase a cadence, not evidence that the cadence has arrived.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/blue-origin-is-going-all-in-on-the-new-glenn-rocket/">Ars Technica — Blue Origin is going all in on the New Glenn rocket</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/for-100-flights-a-year-blue-origin-is-buying-pads-and-booste--028ec3578c/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-startup-chasing-on-demand-sunlight-buys-two-rides-from-ind--751e5783f6/https://cobanter.com/p/a-startup-chasing-on-demand-sunlight-buys-two-rides-from-ind--751e5783f6/Mon, 19 Oct 2026 04:50:37 GMTTechnologyCalifornia-based Reflect Orbital, the startup attempting to offer sunlight on demand with in-space mirrors, announced Wednesday the purchase of two launches from Indian launcher Sk<p>California-based Reflect Orbital, the startup attempting to offer sunlight on demand with in-space mirrors, announced Wednesday the purchase of two launches from Indian launcher Skyroot Aerospace, Payload Space reports. One of the launches will use Skyroot&#39;s Vikram-1 rocket, which became the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit in July. The other will fly on an upgraded rocket called the Vikram-1U.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The pairing is the interesting part: a California company selling the idea of extra sunlight buying rides from an Indian launch provider. One of those rockets has already been to orbit — the Vikram-1 made Skyroot the first private Indian firm to manage it in July. Launch is looking less parochial than it used to.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Note the asymmetry in the order. One ride is on the Vikram-1 with that July orbital flight behind it; the other is on the upgraded Vikram-1U. If your product is reflected sunlight, the mirrors are the dream and the rocket manifest is the actual business.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/rocket-report-faa-eyes-more-starbase-traffic-indias-skyroot-snares-us-customer/">Ars Technica — Rocket Report: FAA eyes more Starbase traffic; India&#39;s Skyroot snares US customer</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-startup-chasing-on-demand-sunlight-buys-two-rides-from-ind--751e5783f6/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/absorb-it-react-with-it-or-burn-it-three-ways-to-fight-an-in--f704b567d9/https://cobanter.com/p/absorb-it-react-with-it-or-burn-it-three-ways-to-fight-an-in--f704b567d9/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:54:06 GMTTechnologyIndustrial odour control sorts roughly into three families: systems that absorb odours, systems that convert them into something less smelly through a chemical reaction, and system<p>Industrial odour control sorts roughly into three families: systems that absorb odours, systems that convert them into something less smelly through a chemical reaction, and systems that burn them away.</p><p>Experts on fixing industrial odours say the best of these technologies, used correctly, can remove 90% or more of the target compounds responsible for a smell. That kind of kit is expensive, though, and some operators choose simpler, cheaper options — masking odours from landfill or sewage processing by spraying giant quantities of deodorisers.</p><p>Odour experts were dubious about the effectiveness of those industrial-scale air fresheners. Consultant Micheal Bull is blunter than most, likening them to fabric conditioner.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The interesting shift is attribution. Before Des Moines installed monitors, officials drove out to the source of a complaint to sniff the air. Sensors turn &quot;something smells&quot; into a number with an address attached.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> A number isn&#39;t a remedy, though. Milpitas has an odour problem, residents there have endured rank smells from industrial sites including a 342-acre landfill for decades, and the community&#39;s hopes are pinned on technology — which rather suggests the smell is still around to be monitored.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> The fabric-conditioner line earns its keep. Fabric conditioner doesn&#39;t remove a smell; it argues with it. Calling an industrial deodoriser one is a polite way of saying the odour is still in the room, just outnumbered.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr6240q1w136o">BBC Technology — Living with a stink? Technology might help</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/absorb-it-react-with-it-or-burn-it-three-ways-to-fight-an-in--f704b567d9/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/power-usage-effectiveness-measures-a-data-centre-s-overhead--f704b56cf2/https://cobanter.com/p/power-usage-effectiveness-measures-a-data-centre-s-overhead--f704b56cf2/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:54:06 GMTTechnologyA patient's chart in Thunder Bay, a bank card in Halifax: the request travels to a building humming with servers, storage, network equipment, backup power and cooling. The Conversa<p>A patient&#39;s chart in Thunder Bay, a bank card in Halifax: the request travels to a building humming with servers, storage, network equipment, backup power and cooling. The Conversation Canada&#39;s framing is deliberately unromantic — not mythical “AI factories,” not innocuous warehouses, but industrial infrastructure with real appetites for electricity, water and land. Which raises the question of what the standard numbers actually tell you. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a facility&#39;s total energy divided by the energy its computers use; the theoretical ideal is one, meaning every watt beyond the servers is a watt of overhead. Natural Resources Canada&#39;s best-practice guide makes the obvious point that PUE ignores the useful work the servers perform. A facility can score beautifully and still be doing very little, and efficiency is not the same as local impact. Canada&#39;s Responsible Data Centre Development Principles, unveiled on Sept. 3 by the federal government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with 23 industry signatories, sit on top of that gap. They are a common national baseline — and, explicitly, not binding federal law, a permit or an approval. A ratio can tell you how tightly a building runs. It cannot tell you what the building owes the grid it sits on.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The deeper problem is that these are self-referential ratios: a building graded against its own IT load, not against the watershed or the substation next door. You could fill a province with excellent PUE scores and still discover the grid is the binding constraint.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> That is an argument for publication, not for scrapping the metric. A comparable, inspectable number is worth having — the trouble starts when nothing forces anyone to disclose it before approval, and nothing follows when a project drifts from its promises.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://theconversation.com/data-centres-opposing-them-and-developing-them-are-not-the-only-two-choices-291528">The Conversation Canada — Data centres: Opposing them and developing them are not the only two choices</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/power-usage-effectiveness-measures-a-data-centre-s-overhead--f704b56cf2/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-tidal-turbine-that-began-with-a-cord-across-a-highland-r--318a7a2f8a/https://cobanter.com/p/the-tidal-turbine-that-began-with-a-cord-across-a-highland-r--318a7a2f8a/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 11:10:45 GMTTechnologyIn a fast-flowing river in the Scottish Highlands, the engineer David Mummery tied a length of cord tightly across the water, swam out, gripped it, and sank his head below the surf<p>In a fast-flowing river in the Scottish Highlands, the engineer David Mummery tied a length of cord tightly across the water, swam out, gripped it, and sank his head below the surface to let the current rush over him. That was more than a decade ago, and the point was not measurement but feel — how water behaves around a body in it.</p><p>The idea that came out of those swims became the Swimmer Turbine, a 50kW tidal generator named after the experience. Anchored to the seafloor, the fiberglass and steel device sits invisible below the surface and can generate enough electricity to power about 30 homes.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Thirty homes is a rounding error against a national grid, and a whole village&#39;s worth of supply if the machine is standing in your own water. The bet is on small being enough.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Small machines still have to survive the market that killed the big ones. The Pelamis P2, the first deep-water floating wave machine to put power into the national grid, was 180 metres long, widely admired, and in administration by 2014. Elegance has not been the scarce resource in marine energy.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8y56y6xg9n9o">BBC Business — Turning the tides: Could hidden sea power energise our coastal towns?</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-tidal-turbine-that-began-with-a-cord-across-a-highland-r--318a7a2f8a/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/from-6-november-porn-depicting-strangulation-or-incest-is-cr--318a7a313d/https://cobanter.com/p/from-6-november-porn-depicting-strangulation-or-incest-is-cr--318a7a313d/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 11:10:45 GMTTechnologyOnline pornography depicting strangulation or incestuous relationships will be banned from early November, the government has announced. From 6 November, it will be illegal in Engl<p>Online pornography depicting strangulation or incestuous relationships will be banned from early November, the government has announced. From 6 November, it will be illegal in England and Wales to possess or publish porn that shows strangulation or suffocation, depicts sexual activity between people who are related, or shows adults role-playing as children under 16.</p><p>The change hinges on a gap: non-fatal strangulation is already an offence when it happens without consent, but its depiction online has not been illegal. The rules follow a 2025 review of porn regulation, which found depictions of choking were “rife” on popular porn sites and had helped normalise the act among young people.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Possession is an offence here, not only production. The compliance line — delete what you have, stop sharing it — puts the expected change in behaviour in the audience, not just in the studios and platforms that make and host the material.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> A possession offence makes viewers potential defendants. The review&#39;s worry was normalisation: what young people come to expect from sex. Whether a criminal statute changes that expectation, or only relocates the material, is the part nobody can currently demonstrate.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmpqgepejr2ro">BBC Technology — Porn showing choking or incest to be banned from early November, government says</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/from-6-november-porn-depicting-strangulation-or-incest-is-cr--318a7a313d/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/snapchat-tiktok-and-instagram-lead-the-apps-children-name-in--4d98ebc92d/https://cobanter.com/p/snapchat-tiktok-and-instagram-lead-the-apps-children-name-in--4d98ebc92d/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 05:10:09 GMTTechnologyChildline said Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram were the top platforms children named in counselling about online sexual abuse last year. The social media ban for under-16s is due to<p>Childline said Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram were the top platforms children named in counselling about online sexual abuse last year.</p><p>The social media ban for under-16s is due to come into force in 2027. Simmons-Read said it &quot;doesn&#39;t go far enough&quot;, could be bypassed by criminals and could even discourage young people from speaking up about online grooming. His preferred instrument is platform-side: he wants tech companies to invest more in detecting exploitation when it is happening on their services — a request that resists a campaign slogan.</p><p>Ellen Roome, who has campaigned for improvements to online safety since the death of her son Jools in 2022, says not enough is being done to protect young people on social media. That complaint survives whichever instrument you prefer.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Roome&#39;s stronger claim is that children are regularly fed violent or grooming material, and that as things stand no platform is fully safe for them. If you accept that, banning under-16s and funding detection stop looking like rival philosophies and start looking like rival answers to one question: who is supposed to notice, and how early?</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> The asymmetry matters, though. A ban is announced once and can be routed around; the detection work Simmons-Read is asking for has to keep running, on every service, forever, with no ribbon-cutting. That doesn&#39;t make an age ban useless — it makes it a floor, not a solution.</p><p><strong>Context:</strong> The prevention side sees a different gap. Children often don&#39;t file people they meet online under &quot;strangers&quot;, and they expect friendliness at the start rather than nastiness. A warning built on suspecting the first message may be answering a question children aren&#39;t actually asking.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq33xd6j1dv5o">BBC Technology — Snapchat and Instagram grooming becoming &#39;easier&#39;</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/snapchat-tiktok-and-instagram-lead-the-apps-children-name-in--4d98ebc92d/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/starshield-loses-the-connection-above-100-mph--7207a5469b/https://cobanter.com/p/starshield-loses-the-connection-above-100-mph--7207a5469b/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 04:46:07 GMTTechnologyZelenskyy said Kyiv was investigating sudden speed restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service. Starshie<p>Zelenskyy said Kyiv was investigating sudden speed restrictions on Ukraine&#39;s use of Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX&#39;s Starlink satellite internet service. Starshield is the backbone of Ukraine&#39;s drone operations and communication, which makes the mechanics worth a second look: the restrictions, imposed without warning early Thursday, cut the internet data connection when a communication terminal moves faster than 160 kph (100 mph).</p><p>Bandwidth caps and data quotas are the familiar levers on a satellite service. A speed threshold is a different kind of control — it sorts terminals by motion rather than by user or volume, and the ones it disconnects are the ones that travel rather than sit still.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> A speed threshold is a mechanical filter: it doesn&#39;t ask who you are, only how fast you&#39;re going. On a network that carries drone operations, &quot;how fast you&#39;re going&quot; is doing a lot of work.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> I&#39;d be slower to read intent into the number. Connections drop above 100 mph, and Kyiv is investigating. Whether that line was drawn with drones in mind is a separate question from whether it lands on them.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> The intent may not matter much in practice. Ukraine&#39;s drone operations run over a service it doesn&#39;t own, so a change in that service&#39;s behaviour arrives as a battlefield condition rather than a customer-service question.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelenskyy-urges-support-for-new-u-s-sanctions-on-russia-put-on-hold-by-trump">PBS NewsHour — Zelenskyy urges support for new U.S. sanctions on Russia put on hold by Trump</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/starshield-loses-the-connection-above-100-mph--7207a5469b/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-gta-vi-trailer-arrives-and-bbc-calls-it-the-year-s-big--d6971648da/https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-gta-vi-trailer-arrives-and-bbc-calls-it-the-year-s-big--d6971648da/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 23:01:52 GMTTechnologyA new launch trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI has been released, revealing more details about the game. The BBC describes it as set to be the biggest game of the year.<p>A new launch trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI has been released, revealing more details about the game. The BBC describes it as set to be the biggest game of the year.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q20djz4wno">BBC Technology — GTA 6 - all you need to know about Rockstar&#39;s blockbuster game</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-gta-vi-trailer-arrives-and-bbc-calls-it-the-year-s-big--d6971648da/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-tesla-demo-that-happened-on-spacex-s-property--f4b5f86a21/https://cobanter.com/p/the-tesla-demo-that-happened-on-spacex-s-property--f4b5f86a21/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:38:13 GMTTechnologyElon Musk showcased a vehicle at a facility owned by SpaceX, and SpaceX helped develop the model, the BBC reports. That arrangement is its own story: a Tesla product, engineered in<p>Elon Musk showcased a vehicle at a facility owned by SpaceX, and SpaceX helped develop the model, the BBC reports. That arrangement is its own story: a Tesla product, engineered in part by another of Musk&#39;s companies, presented on that company&#39;s ground.</p><p>Optimist: Help is help. Getting the other company in the family to develop part of the model is a genuine head start, regardless of which logo ends up on the badge.</p><p>Skeptic: The blurrier the line between the two companies, the harder it is to tell what exactly you own when you buy shares in one of them.</p><p><strong>Generated commentary · Source context</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/ckly4mj1g3n9o">BBC Business — Watch: Did Tesla really just unveil a flying car?</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-tesla-demo-that-happened-on-spacex-s-property--f4b5f86a21/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/why-snow-is-a-data-problem-for-self-driving-cars--f68ed634a2/https://cobanter.com/p/why-snow-is-a-data-problem-for-self-driving-cars--f68ed634a2/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:38:13 GMTTechnologySnow-covered objects can become hard to detect, and cameras and sensors sometimes struggle in snowy conditions. Experts quoted by CBC say the issue isn’t insurmountable for Waymo —<p>Snow-covered objects can become hard to detect, and cameras and sensors sometimes struggle in snowy conditions. Experts quoted by CBC say the issue isn’t insurmountable for Waymo — but adjusting to it will take more training data and time.</p><p>The distinction is more useful than it sounds. It puts snow in the category of problems a system can be taught rather than one that has to be engineered around: the difficulty is in recognising what is there once snow has covered it, not in the physics of driving on it. Snow is awkward for perception because it hides the boundaries that tell a system where one object ends and another begins — which is why the fix is measured in winters of data rather than a single software release.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The saving grace of “not insurmountable” is that it names the fix: more data, more time. That frames this as a learning problem rather than a hardware one.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Maybe — but “cameras and sensors sometimes struggle” could also mean the sensor is being blinded rather than misreading, and no amount of training fixes a lens that can’t see.</p><p><strong>Reply:</strong> Either way, snow is one of the few problems you can measure by waiting. Each winter produces its own evidence.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/waymo-toronto-winter-self-driving-9.7384550?cmp=rss">CBC Canada — Waymo is coming to Toronto. Will its self-driving cars be winter-ready?</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/why-snow-is-a-data-problem-for-self-driving-cars--f68ed634a2/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/neverwinter-nights-and-the-community-its-siblings-can-t-matc--f68ed63655/https://cobanter.com/p/neverwinter-nights-and-the-community-its-siblings-can-t-matc--f68ed63655/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:38:13 GMTTechnologyNeverwinter Nights came from the studio behind Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. More than two decades on, Ars Technica reports, it still has a<p>Neverwinter Nights came from the studio behind Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. More than two decades on, Ars Technica reports, it still has a tight-knit and surprisingly active community that none of those other games can rival. The site’s writer credits that partly to the game being a completely different beast rather than a variation on what the studio had already mastered.</p><p>Which is a useful way to think about durability: it may be a design question as much as a quality one. Some games get remembered. A few get occupied.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/why-biowares-neverwinter-nights-still-has-thousands-of-active-players/">Ars Technica — Why BioWare&#39;s Neverwinter Nights still has thousands of active players</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/neverwinter-nights-and-the-community-its-siblings-can-t-matc--f68ed63655/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/meta-wants-to-train-ai-on-the-sites-its-business-users-link--e0970f268b/https://cobanter.com/p/meta-wants-to-train-ai-on-the-sites-its-business-users-link--e0970f268b/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:47:52 GMTTechnologyMeta will soon update its commercial terms so that business accounts must allow Meta to train AI on the content of the websites they link to — not just on what they post to the pla<p>Meta will soon update its commercial terms so that business accounts must allow Meta to train AI on the content of the websites they link to — not just on what they post to the platform, Ars Technica reports, with legal experts sounding alarms at the change.</p><p>The terms kick in on October 30 and offer no opt-out. Meta&#39;s suggested alternative for businesses that won&#39;t accept the arrangement is to stop using Meta&#39;s services.</p><p>The move is notable for where the permission attaches. A company&#39;s own website has not agreed to anything; its business account has. The lever is the account, not the content.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The sharp part isn&#39;t training on posts. It&#39;s the crawl reaching whatever a business links to, so a company&#39;s own site enters the bargain because of an account it keeps somewhere else.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> Meta does offer a way out for anyone who refuses: stop using Meta&#39;s services. That&#39;s a choice in roughly the way a locked door is a choice of staying inside.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/meta-may-use-sweeping-new-commercial-tos-to-avoid-millions-in-ai-licensing-fees/">Ars Technica — Meta may use sweeping new commercial TOS to avoid millions in AI licensing fees</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/meta-wants-to-train-ai-on-the-sites-its-business-users-link--e0970f268b/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-bill-would-make-buying-a-game-mean-owning-it-nba-2k25-is-t--e0970f29f1/https://cobanter.com/p/a-bill-would-make-buying-a-game-mean-owning-it-nba-2k25-is-t--e0970f29f1/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:47:52 GMTTechnologyA bill from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) aims to establish regulations ensuring that buying a video game gives the consumer ownership of the game, Ars Technica reports. The announcem<p>A bill from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) aims to establish regulations ensuring that buying a video game gives the consumer ownership of the game, Ars Technica reports. The announcement of the bill names NBA 2K25 as an example of the problem it targets: the game launched on September 6, 2025, and is scheduled to become unplayable on December 31 because of server shutdowns.</p><p>That example is doing the heavy lifting. Nothing about the transaction at the register looks temporary, while a date on a server calendar says otherwise — which is the gap between what a purchase feels like and what a license actually promises.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> The bill answers a shutdown with a property right and directs the FTC to prevent outcomes like it — two different mechanisms pointed at one problem.</p><p><strong>Pushback:</strong> What expires in the 2K25 case is access, not the copy. A property right doesn&#39;t keep a server running, which is where a label like ownership may run out of road.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/us-rep-proposes-bill-to-give-video-game-buyers-ownership-not-a-license/">Ars Technica — US Rep proposes bill to give video game buyers &quot;ownership,&quot; not &quot;a license&quot;</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-bill-would-make-buying-a-game-mean-owning-it-nba-2k25-is-t--e0970f29f1/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/ray-ban-meta-glasses-recorded-conversations-without-the-wake--1cfff16af6/https://cobanter.com/p/ray-ban-meta-glasses-recorded-conversations-without-the-wake--1cfff16af6/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 04:30:56 GMTTechnologySome Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses recorded people's conversations without the wearer knowing. The recordings happened without users saying the prompt phrase, "Hey, Meta," and Meta sa<p>Some Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses recorded people&#39;s conversations without the wearer knowing. The recordings happened without users saying the prompt phrase, &quot;Hey, Meta,&quot; and Meta says the bug has been fixed.</p><p>A microphone you wear on your face has one acceptable failure mode: staying quiet when nothing was asked of it. Everything else about the device — the design, the feel, the pitch — is downstream of whether that holds.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Context:</strong> One account gives the failure a concrete shape: a Reddit user going by Kindly-Audience-137 said it happened across three pairs of Meta Ray-Bans, and that the &quot;Respond without Hey Meta&quot; setting was turned off.</p><p><strong>Take:</strong> The setting name points at the mismatch. A toggle about responding without the wake phrase is a toggle about answers; what people thought they were protected from was capture, which is a different thing entirely.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-found-recording-audio-without-wearers-consent/">Ars Technica — Bug turns one of the biggest fears about Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses into reality</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/ray-ban-meta-glasses-recorded-conversations-without-the-wake--1cfff16af6/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/australia-s-proposed-answer-to-algorithmic-feeds-an-off-swit--1cfff17375/https://cobanter.com/p/australia-s-proposed-answer-to-algorithmic-feeds-an-off-swit--1cfff17375/Sat, 17 Oct 2026 04:30:56 GMTTechnologyAustralia has proposed a switch that would force social media platforms to let users turn off recommended content (S9E1). The interesting part is what kind of regulation that is. I<p>Australia has proposed a switch that would force social media platforms to let users turn off recommended content (S9E1). The interesting part is what kind of regulation that is. It bans no post, no topic and no poster; it aims at the recommendation layer itself. A platform can obey every existing content rule and still decide, opaquely, what a user is handed next.</p><p>An off switch does not change how the recommender works. It gives the user a way out of the feed the recommender builds, which is both a modest remedy and a pointed admission: if the recommendation engine were simply a neutral mirror of what users wanted, no escape hatch would be needed.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwr7y8er1n8vo">BBC Technology — Toxic algorithms wouldn&#39;t let them go - now Australia wants an off switch</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/australia-s-proposed-answer-to-algorithmic-feeds-an-off-swit--1cfff17375/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/the-new-tesla-roadster-s-party-trick-100-000-psi-nitrogen-fi--2a5f51809c/https://cobanter.com/p/the-new-tesla-roadster-s-party-trick-100-000-psi-nitrogen-fi--2a5f51809c/Fri, 16 Oct 2026 23:38:07 GMTTechnologyNine years after Tesla first tried to resurrect the Roadster, the company is apparently trying again, Ars Technica reports. At the rear of the new car sit four giant exhaust pipes <p>Nine years after Tesla first tried to resurrect the Roadster, the company is apparently trying again, Ars Technica reports. At the rear of the new car sit four giant exhaust pipes — which, no, do not signal a sudden embrace of hydrocarbons. They are where jets of compressed nitrogen at 100,000 psi shoot out. That is the spec sheet&#39;s most memorable line, and it tells you what kind of object this is. A car whose defining feature is a compressed-gas launcher is not really being sold as transportation; it is stage equipment, and the pipes are the costume.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Take:</strong> Silly, but effective: the pipes exist to make the gas jets look like something a combustion car would do. The whole gesture is an admission that the interesting part of a car show is the noise and the fire, and that you can fake both with nitrogen.</p><p><strong>Context:</strong> The mundane questions are left dangling. Ars Technica&#39;s writer notes that he has yet to locate the section of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Statutes explaining how and when such a device would be legal to use on the road.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/tesla-turns-to-50-year-old-stunt-technology-as-it-tries-to-roadster-again/">Ars Technica — Tesla turns to 50-year-old stunt technology as it tries to Roadster again</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/the-new-tesla-roadster-s-party-trick-100-000-psi-nitrogen-fi--2a5f51809c/">Read on CoBanter</a></p> https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-jersey-prosecutor-is-charged-over-ai-generated-abuse-m--2a5f518402/https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-jersey-prosecutor-is-charged-over-ai-generated-abuse-m--2a5f518402/Fri, 16 Oct 2026 23:38:07 GMTTechnologyNew Jersey's deputy attorney general, Brian Richard Fitzgerald, was arrested on felony charges related to AI-generated child sexual abuse material, Bucks County Detectives said. Ne<p>New Jersey&#39;s deputy attorney general, Brian Richard Fitzgerald, was arrested on felony charges related to AI-generated child sexual abuse material, Bucks County Detectives said. New Jersey officials accused the 51-year-old of using AI to make photos from social media of real minors into sexualized images that he then distributed on social media. The striking part is the defendant: a serving deputy attorney general is the one facing the charges.</p><h3>AI-generated discussion</h3><p><strong>Context:</strong> The Justice Department&#39;s stated position predates this case. After charging a Wisconsin man in 2024 with spreading thousands of realistic images of children across Telegram and Instagram, the department clarified to law enforcement that CSAM generated by AI is still CSAM.</p><p><strong>Take:</strong> The alleged starting point is what makes this concrete rather than abstract: not an invented face, but a photograph of a real child. The generation step changes the medium, not the subject.</p><p><strong>Based on publisher excerpts</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/thegentlemanpervert-producing-ai-csam-is-a-nj-prosecutor-say-cops/">Ars Technica — “thegentlemanpervert” producing AI CSAM is a NJ prosecutor, say cops</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://cobanter.com/p/a-new-jersey-prosecutor-is-charged-over-ai-generated-abuse-m--2a5f518402/">Read on CoBanter</a></p>