Nike says it is [1]investigating a potential data breach , after a group known for cyber attacks reportedly claimed to have leaked a trove of data related to its business operations. From a report:

> "We always take consumer privacy and data security very seriously," Nike said in a statement. "We are investigating a potential cyber security incident and are actively assessing the situation."

>

> The ransomware group World Leaks said on its website that it had published 1.4 terabytes of data from Nike.



[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nike-says-investigating-possible-data-170540654.html

Television [1]marks its centenary today , exactly 100 years after Scottish inventor John Logie Baird first demonstrated his electro-mechanical system to journalists and members of the Royal Institution in a cramped attic workshop above what is now Bar Italia in London's Soho.

On January 26, 1926, small groups of visitors climbed to 22 Frith Street and watched fuzzy images of a ventriloquist's dummy called Stooky Bill appear on screen, followed by each other's faces transmitted from a separate room. One visitor got too close to the spinning discs and ended up with a sliced beard. The Times [2]published a short account two days later.

Baird had built his first transmitting equipment in Hastings in 1923 using a hatbox, tea chest, darning needles and bicycle light lenses. A 1000-volt electric shock and a displeased landlord pushed him to London, where Gordon Selfridge soon invited him to demonstrate the device during the store's Birthday Week celebrations. The building at 22 Frith Street now carries three plaques commemorating the invention.



[1] https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2026/01/tv100.html

[2] https://www.bairdtelevision.com/the-televisor-successful-test-of-new-apparatus-1926.html

An anonymous reader [1]shares a report :

> From Sandisk shareholders to vibe coders, AI is making -- and breaking -- fortunes at a rapid pace. One unlikely beneficiary has been the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, which lucked into a future fortune when ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, gave the island the ".ai" top-level domain in the mid-1990s. Indeed, since ChatGPT's launch at the end of 2022, the gold rush for websites to associate themselves with the burgeoning AI technology has seen a flood of revenue for the island of just ~15,000 people.

>

> In 2023, Anguilla generated 87 million East Caribbean dollars (~$32 million) from domain name sales, some 22% of its total government revenue that year, with 354,000 ".ai" domains registered. As of January 2, 2026, the number of ".ai" domains surpassed 1 million, per data from Domain Name Stat -- suggesting that the nation's revenue from ".ai" has likely soared, too. This is confirmed in the government's 2026 budget address, in which Cora Richardson Hodge, the premier of Anguilla, said, "Revenue from domain name registration continues to exceed expectations."



[1] https://sherwood.news/tech/now-more-one-million-ai-websites-contributing-an-estimated-70-million-anguilla-government-revenue/

The independent coffee shops and quirky boutiques that make neighborhoods like Hayes Valley in San Francisco or Williamsburg in Brooklyn desirable are caught in a frustrating economic trap: they create value that ends up in the pockets of nearby homeowners rather than their own cash registers.

An [1]essay in Works in Progress magazine argues that when an interesting new store or restaurant opens, commercial and residential property values rise in the surrounding area, but the retailer itself captures only a fraction of that value through its actual sales. Almost half of stores in one San Francisco shopping district shuttered within four years even as the neighborhood thrived and rents climbed.

The authors propose several fixes drawn from historical and international practice. Shopping malls and mixed-use developments solve this through unified ownership, allowing a single entity to cross-subsidize interesting tenants. Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway buys land around new stations before building begins, making it one of the few profitable transit systems in the world. Business Improvement Districts let businesses tax themselves for shared amenities, though they currently don't capture value that spills over to nearby residents.

The essay suggests creating hybrid institutions -- something between homeowners' associations and business improvement districts -- that could levy hyperlocal taxes to keep valued retail alive.



[1] https://worksinprogress.co/issue/fixing-retail-with-land-value-capture/

Nearly 3.8 billion people [1]could face extreme heat by 2050 and while tropical countries will bear the brunt cooler regions will also need to adapt, scientists said Monday. From a report:

> Demand for cooling will "drastically" increase in giant countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria, where hundreds of millions of people lack air conditioning or other means of beating the heat. But even a moderate increase in hotter days could have a "severe impact" in nations not used to such conditions like Canada, Russia and Finland, said scientists from the University of Oxford.

>

> In a new study, they looked at different global warming scenarios to project how often people in future might experience temperatures considered uncomfortably hot or cold. They found "that the population experiencing extreme heat conditions is projected to nearly double" by 2050 if global average temperatures rise 2C above preindustrial times.



[1] https://www.barrons.com/news/world-not-ready-for-rise-in-extreme-heat-scientists-say-7e1c9a16

Saudi Arabia is preparing to [1]significantly scale back Neom , Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's flagship development that sprawls across a Belgium-sized stretch of Red Sea coastline and was once billed as [2]the world's largest construction site . Financial Times is reporting that Prince Mohammed, who chairs the project, now envisions something "far smaller" as a year-long review nears completion. The Line, a futuristic 170-kilometer linear city that served as Neom's centerpiece, will be radically reimagined as a result, the report added.

Architects are already working on a more modest design that would repurpose infrastructure built over the past few years. Neom could pivot toward becoming a data center hub, taking advantage of seawater cooling from its coastal location as Saudi Arabia pushes to become a leading AI player. The Trojena ski resort is also being downsized and will no longer host the 2029 Asian Winter Games as originally planned. Construction largely stalled after longtime CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr abruptly departed in November 2024.



[1] https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/ce5287a2-00b6-4ca1-906a-c929fffdba0a

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/10/26/1737200/saudi-arabia-pushes-ahead-with-its-sci-fi-city-vision

The UK is [1]losing more jobs than it is creating because of AI and is being hit harder than rival large economies, new research suggests. From a report: British companies reported that AI had resulted in net job losses over the past 12 months, down 8% -- the highest rate among other leading economies including the US, Japan, Germany and Australia, according to a study by the investment bank Morgan Stanley. The research surveyed companies using AI for at least a year across five industries: consumer staples and retail, real estate, transport, healthcare equipment and cars.

It found that British businesses reported an average 11.5% increase in productivity aided by AI. US businesses reported similar gains, but created more jobs than they cut. It suggests UK workers are being hit particularly hard by the rise of AI, as higher costs and taxes also weigh on the job market. Unemployment is at a four-year high, as rises in the minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions squeeze hiring.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/26/ai-uk-jobs-us-japan-germany-australia

The video game industry is experiencing something that most consumer-facing businesses would consider remarkable: organized online campaigns from players are actually forcing studios to [1]cancel projects or publicly walk back any association with AI-generated content.

Running With Scissors, the publisher behind the Postal shooter franchise, recently scrapped a title after players accused its trailer of containing AI-generated graphics. Goonswarm Games, the developer behind the canceled project, subsequently shut down entirely and cited six years of lost work alongside what it described as a flood of threats and accusations.

Sandfall Interactive's "Obscur: Expedition 33" had its Indie Game Awards Game of the Year honor rescinded after the developer said it had considered AI-generated images, even though the final release contained none. Larian Studios, the developer behind Baldur's Gate 3, faced immediate backlash after CEO Swen Vincke mentioned in an interview that the company was using generative AI to "explore ideas" for an upcoming release. Vincke later clarified on X that artists use AI only for reference images the way they would use "art books or Google," and Larian executives eventually stated on Reddit that AI would play no role in final artwork.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/gaming/gaming-platforms/angry-gamers-are-forcing-studios-to-scrap-or-rethink-new-releases/ar-AA1UZsMO

California-based Karman Industries "says it has developed a cooling system that uses SpaceX rocket engine technology to rein in the environmental impact of data centers," [1]reports the Los Angeles Times , "chilling them with less space, less power and no water."

> Karman has developed a cooling system similar to the heat pumps in the average home, except its pumps use liquid carbon dioxide as refrigerant, which is circulated using rocket engine technology rather than fans. The company's efficient pumps can reduce the space required for data center cooling equipment by 80%.

>

> Over the years, data centers have used fans and air conditioning to blow cold air on the chips. Bigger facilities pass cold liquid through tubes near the chips to absorb the heat. This hot liquid is sent outside to a cooling yard, where sprawling networks of pipes use as much water as a city of 50,000 people to remove the heat. A 50 megawatt data center also uses enough electricity to power a mid-sized city... Cooling systems account for up to 40% of a data center's power consumption and an average midsized data center consumes more than 35,000 gallons of water per day...

>

> U.S. data centers will consume about 8% of all electricity in the country by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency... The cooling systems are projected to use up to 33 billion gallons of water by 2028 per year... To serve this seemingly insatiable market, Karman has developed a rotating compressor that spins at 30,000 revolutions per minute — nearly [2]10 times faster than traditional compressors — to move heat...

>

> About a third of Karman's 23-person team came from SpaceX or Rocket Lab, and they co-opted technologies from aerospace engineering and electric vehicles to design the mechanics for the high-speed motors. The system uses a special type of carbon dioxide under high pressure to transfer heat from the data center to the outside air. Depending on the conditions, it can do the same amount of cooling using less than half the energy. Karman's heat pump can either reject heat to air, or route it into extra cooling, or even power generation.

The company "recently raised $20 million," according to the article, "and expects to start building its first compressors in Long Beach later this year...."



[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/l-startup-uses-spacex-tech-175628363.html

[2] https://www.trane.com/content/dam/Trane/Commercial/global/learning-center/engineers-newsletters/APP-PRC006A-EN_02252021.pdf

KDE's "Plasma Login Manager" is apparently dropping support for FreeBSD, the Unix-like operating system, [1]reports the blog It's FOSS . They cite a [2]recently-accepted merge request from a KDE engineer to drop the code supporting FreeBSD, since the login manager relies on systemd/logind:

> systemd and logind look like hard dependencies of the login manager, which means the software is built to work exclusively with these components and cannot function without them... [3]logind is a component of systemd that is responsible for user session management...

>

> This doesn't mean that KDE has abandoned the operating system altogether. FreeBSD users can [4]still run the KDE Plasma desktop environment and continue using [5]SDDM , the current login manager that works just fine on such systems.

The article argues FreeBSD users "won't really care much for missing out on this as they have plenty of login manager options available."



[1] https://itsfoss.com/news/plasma-login-manager-drops-freebsd/

[2] https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-login-manager/-/merge_requests/42

[3] https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd-logind.service.html

[4] https://community.kde.org/FreeBSD/Setup

[5] https://github.com/sddm/sddm

Adafruit managing director Phillip Torrone (also long-time Slashdot reader [1]ptorrone ) writes:

> Washington State lawmakers are proposing bills (HB 2320 and HB 2321) that would require 3D printers and [2]CNC machines to [3]block certain designs using software-based "firearms blueprint detection algorithms ." In practice, this means scanning every print file, comparing it against a government-maintained database, and preventing "skilled users" from bypassing the system.

>

> Supporters frame this as a response to untraceable "ghost guns," but even federal prosecutors admit the tools involved are ordinary manufacturing equipment. Critics warn the language is overbroad, technically unworkable, hostile to open source, and likely to push printing toward cloud-locked, subscription-based systems—while doing little to stop criminals.



[1] https://slashdot.org/~ptorrone

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_numerical_control

[3] https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/01/25/washingtons-3d-printing-bills-are-bad-for-stem-bad-for-business-and-bad-for-open-source-3d-printing/

Earlier this month, the media site Press Gazette reported that now Google "is [1]increasingly prioritising AI summaries, X posts and Youtube videos " on its "Discover" feed (which appears on the leftmost homescreen page of many Android phones and the Google app's homepage).

"The changes could be devastating for publishers who rely heavily on Discover for referral traffic. And it looks set to accelerate a global trend of declining traffic to publishers [2]from both Google search and Discover ."

> Xavi Beumala from website analytics platform Marfeel [3]warned in a research update : "Google Discover is no longer a publisher-first surface. It's becoming an AI platform with YouTube and X absorbing real estate that once went to newsrooms..." [They warn later that "This is not a marginal UI experiment. It is a reallocation of feed real estate away from links and toward inline Youtube plays and generated summaries."] Google says it prioritises "helpful, reliable, people-first content". Unlike Google News, there is no requirement that Google Discover showcases bona fide publisher websites.

>

> In recent months fake news stories published by fraudulent website publishers [4]have been promoted on Google Discover , reaping tens of millions of clicks. Google said it was [5]working on a "fix" for this issue ...

>

> Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok content may also start flowing into the Discover feed in future. [6]When Google announced the addition of posts from X, Instagram and Youtube Shorts in September, it said there would be "more platforms to come".



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/26/001230/google-discover-replaces-news-headlines-with-sometimes-inaccurate-ai-generated-alternatives

[2] https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/google-traffic-down-2025-trends-report-2026/

[3] https://community.marfeel.com/t/google-discover-s-shift-to-ai-youtube-and-x-what-publishers-are-losing/131424

[4] https://pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/google-promotes-fake-content-to-millions-on-discover-news-platform/

[5] https://pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/google-promises-discover-fix-as-more-fake-ai-stories-top-rankings/

[6] https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/discover-updates-september-2025/

An anonymous reader shared [1]this report from The Verge :

> In early December, I brought you the news that Google has [2]begun replacing Verge headlines , and those of our competitors, with AI clickbait nonsense in its content feed [which appears on the leftmost homescreen page of many Android phones and the Google app's homepage]. Google [3]appeared to be backing away from the experiment, but now tells The Verge that its AI headlines in Google Discover are a feature, one that "performs well for user satisfaction." I once again see lots of misleading claims every time I check my phone...

>

> For example, Google's AI claimed last week that "US reverses foreign drone ban," citing and linking to [4]this PCMag story for the news. That's not just false — PCMag took pains to explain that it's false in the story that Google links to...! What does the author of that PCMag story think? "It makes me feel icky," Jim Fisher tells me over the phone. "I'd encourage people to click on stories and read them, and not trust what Google is spoon-feeding them." He says Google should be using the headline that humans wrote, and if Google needs a summary, it can use the ones that publications already submit to help search engines parse our work.

>

> Google claims it's not rewriting headlines. It characterizes these new offerings as "trending topics," even though each "trending topic" presents itself as one of our stories, links to our stories, and uses our images, all without competent fact-checking to ensure the AI is getting them right... The AI is also no longer restricted to roughly four words per headline, so I no longer see nonsense headlines like "Microsoft developers using AI" or "AI tag debate heats." (Instead, I occasionally see tripe like "Fares: Need AAA & AA Games" or "Dispatch sold millions; few avoided romance.")

>

> But Google's AI has no clue what parts of these stories are new, relevant, significant, or true, and it can easily confuse one story for another. On December 26th, Google told me that "Steam Machine price & HDMI details emerge." They hadn't. On January 11th, Google proclaimed that "ASUS ROG Ally X arrives." (It arrived [5]in 2024 ; the new Xbox Ally [6]arrived months ago .) On January 20th, it wrote that "Glasses-free 3D tech wows," introducing readers to "New 3D tech called Immensity from Leia" — but linking to [7]this TechRadar story about an entirely different company called Visual Semiconductor...

>

> Google declined our request for an interview to more fully explain the idea.

The site Android Police [8]spotted more inaccurate headlines in December :

> A [9]story from 9to5Google , which was actually titled 'Don't buy a Qi2 25W wireless charger hoping for faster speeds — just get the 'slower' one instead' was [10]retitled as 'Qi2 slows older Pixels.' Similarly, Ars Technica's 'Valve's Steam Machine looks like a console, but don't expect it to be priced like one' was changed to 'Steam Machine price revealed.' At the time, we believed that the inaccuracies were due to the feature being unstable and in early testing.... Now, Google has stopped calling Discover replacing human-written headlines as an "experiment."

"Google buries a 'Generated with AI, which can make mistakes' message under the 'See more' button in the summary," [11]reports 9to5Google , "making it look like this is the publisher's intended headline."

> While it is obvious that Google has refined this feature over the past couple of months, it doesn't take long to still find plenty of misleading headlines throughout Discover... Another [12]article from NotebookCheck about an Anker power bank with a retractable cable was given a headline that's about another product entirely. A pair of headlines from Tom's Hardware and PCMag, meanwhile, show the two sides of using AI for this purpose. The Tom's Hardware headline, "Free GPU & Amazon Scams," isn't representative of [13]the actual article , which is about someone who bought a GPU from Amazon, canceled their order, and the retailer shipped it anyway. There's nothing about "Amazon Scams" in the article.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/tech/865168/google-says-ai-news-headlines-are-feature-not-experiment

[2] https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/835839/google-discover-ai-headlines-clickbait-nonsense

[3] https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/838354/googles-ai-news-bot-is-still-confused-but-no-longer-replacing-our-headlines

[4] https://www.pcmag.com/news/dji-and-the-us-drone-ban-explained-our-expert-answers-every-question

[5] https://www.theverge.com/24204770/asus-rog-ally-x-review-handheld-gaming-pc

[6] https://www.theverge.com/games/799698/xbox-ally-x-review-asus-microsoft-full-screen-experience

[7] https://www.techradar.com/televisions/i-saw-2-next-gen-3d-tvs-without-glasses-that-use-a-new-tech-that-changes-everything-heres-how-it-works

[8] https://www.androidpolice.com/google-discover-is-crafting-its-own-headlines-with-ai/

[9] https://9to5google.com/2025/11/26/qi2-25w-wireless-chargers/

[10] https://9to5google.com/2026/01/23/google-discover-ai-headlines-feature/

[11] https://9to5google.com/2026/01/23/google-discover-ai-headlines-feature/

[12] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Anker-releases-new-version-of-power-bank-with-retractable-cable.1208273.0.html

[13] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/blessed-redditor-buys-rog-astral-rtx-5080-cancels-order-but-receives-gpu-anyway-amazon-tells-him-to-keep-gpu-and-usd1-850-refund

Brax Technologies just announced "a [1]privacy-focused alternative to locked-down tablets " called open_slate that can double as a consumer tablet and a Linux-capable workstation on ARM.

Earlier Brax Technologies built the privacy-focused smartphone BraX3, which [2]co-founder Plamen Todorov says proved "a privacy-focused mobile device could be designed, crowdfunded, manufactured, and delivered outside the traditional Big Tech ecosystem."

> Just as importantly, BraX3 showed us the value of building with the community. The feedback we received — what worked, what didn't, and what people wanted next — played a major role in shaping our direction going forward. Today, we're ready to share the next step in that journey...

They're promising their "2-in-1" open_slate tablet will be built with these guiding principles:

Modularity beyond repairability". ("In addition to a user-replaceable battery, it supports an M.2 expansion slot, allowing users to customize storage and configurations to better fit their needs.")

Hardware-level privacy and control, with physical switches allowing users to disable key components like wireless radios, sensors, microphones, and cameras.

Multi-OS compatibility, supporting "multiple" Android-based operating systems as well as native Linux distributions. ("We're working with partners and the community to ensure proper, long-term OS support rather than one-off ports.")

Longevity by design — a tablet that's "supported over time"

Brax has already created [3]an open thread with preliminary design specs. "The planned retail price is 599$ for the base version and 799$ for the Pro version," they write. "We will be offering open_slate (both versions) at a discount during our pre-order campaign, starting as low as 399$ for the base version and 529$ for the Pro version for limited quantities only which may sell out in a day or two from launching pre-orders...

"Pre-orders will open in February, via IndieGoGo. Make sure to [4]subscribe for notifications if you don't want to miss the launch date."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [5]walterbyrd for sharing the news.



[1] https://www.braxtech.net/open-slate

[2] https://community.braxtech.net/t/introducing-open-slate-our-next-community-driven-project/4043

[3] https://community.braxtech.net/t/open-slate-megathread/4041

[4] https://www.braxtech.net/open-slate

[5] https://www.slashdot.org/~walterbyrd

Can Aircela's machine "create gasoline using little more than electricity and the air that we breathe"? [1] Jalopnik reports ...

> The Aircela machine works through a three-step process. It captures carbon dioxide directly from the air... The machine also traps water vapor, and uses electrolysis to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen... The oxygen is released, leaving hydrogen and carbon dioxide, the building blocks of hydrocarbons. This mixture then undergoes a process known as direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol, as documented in scientific papers.

>

> Methanol is a useful, though dangerous, racing fuel, but the engine under your hood won't run on it, so it must be converted to gasoline. ExxonMobil has been studying the process of doing exactly that since at least the 1970s. It's another well-established process, and the final step the Aircela machine performs before dispensing it through a built-in ordinary gas pump. So while creating gasoline out of thin air sounds like something only a wizard alchemist in Dungeons & Dragons can do, each step of this process is grounded in science, and combining the steps in this manner means it can, and does, really work.

>

> Aircela does not, however, promise free gasoline for all. There are some limitations to this process. A machine the size of Aircela's produces just one gallon of gas per day... The machine can store up to 17 gallons, [2]according to Popular Science , so if you don't drive very much, you can fill up your tank, eventually... While the Aircela website does not list a price for the machine, [3] The Autopian reports it's targeting a price between $15,000 and $20,000, with hopes of dropping the price once mass production begins. While certainly less expensive than a traditional gas station, it's still a bit of an investment to begin producing your own fuel. If you live or work out in the middle of nowhere, however, it could be close to or less than the cost of bringing gas to you, or driving all your vehicles into a distant town to fill up. You're also not limited to buying just one machine, as the system is designed to scale up to produce as much fuel as you need.

>

> The main reason why this process isn't "something for nothing" is that it takes twice as much electrical energy to produce energy in the form of gasoline. As Aircela told The Autopian " Aircela is targeting >50% end to end power efficiency. Since there is about 37kWh of energy in a gallon of gasoline we will require about 75kWh to make it. When we power our machines with standalone, off-grid, photovoltaic panels this will correspond to less than $1.50/gallon in energy cost."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [4]Quasar1999 for sharing the news.



[1] https://www.jalopnik.com/2083556/new-york-startup-builds-machine-that-makes-gasoline-from-air/

[2] https://www.popsci.com/environment/aircela-gasoline-machine/

[3] https://www.theautopian.com/a-company-wants-to-sell-you-a-small-machine-to-make-gasoline-out-of-air/

[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~Quasar1999

Friday 72-year-old Richard Stallman [1]made a two-hour-and-20-minutes appearance at the Georgia Institute of Technology, [2]talking about everything from AI and connected cars to smartphones, age verfication laws, and his favorite Linux distro. But early on, Stallman also told the audience how "I despise DRM...I don't want any copy of anything with DRM. Whatever it is, I never want it so badly that I would bow down to DRM." (So he doesn't use Spotify or Netflix...)

This led to an interesting moment when someone asked him later if we have an ethical obligation to avoid piracy.. First Stallman swapped in his preferred phrase, "forbidden sharing"...

"I won't use the word piracy to refer to sharing. Sharing is good and it should be lawful. Those laws are wrong. Copyright as it is now [3]is an injustice ."

Stallman said "I don't hesitate to share copies of anything," but added that "I don't have copies of non-free software, because I'm disgusted by it." After a pause, he added this. "Just because there is a law to to give some people unjust power, that doesn't mean breaking that law becomes wrong....

"Dividing people by forbidding them to help each other is nasty."

And later Stallman was asked how he watches movies, if he's opposed to DRM-heavy sites like Netflix, and the DRM in Blu-ray discs? "The only way I can see a movie is if I get a file — you know, like an MP4 file or MKV file. And I would get that, I suppose, by copying from somebody else."

"Sharing is good. Stopping people from sharing is evil."



[1] https://youtu.be/YDxPJs1EPS4

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/25/1930244/richard-stallman-critiques-ai-connected-cars-smartphones-and-drm

[3] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.en.html

Richard Stallman [1]spoke Friday at Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology , continuing his activism for free software while also addressing today's new technologies.

Speaking about AI, Stallman warned that "nowadays, people often use the term artificial intelligence for things that aren't intelligent at all..." He makes a point of calling large language models "generators" because "They generate text and they don't understand really what that text means." (And they also make mistakes "without batting a virtual eyelash. So you can't trust anything that they generate.") Stallman says "Every time you call them AI, you are endorsing the claim that they are intelligent and they're not. So let's let's refuse to do that."

"So I've come up with the term Pretend Intelligence. We could call it PI. And if we start saying this more often, we might help overcome this marketing hype campaign that wants people to trust those systems, and trust their lives and all their activities to the control of those systems and the big companies that develop and control them."

"By the way, as far as I can tell, none of them is free software."

When it comes to today's cars, Stallman says they contain "malicious functionalities... Cars should not be connected. They should not upload anything." (He adds that "I am hoping to find a skilled mechanic to work with me in a project to make disconnected cars.")

And later Stallman calls the smartphone "an Orwellian tracking and surveillance device," saying he refuses to own one. (An advantage of free software is that it allows the removal of malicious functionalities.)

Stallman spoke for about 53 minutes — but then answered questions for nearly 90 minutes longer. [2]Here's some of the highlights ...



[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDxPJs1EPS4

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/25/1930244/richard-stallman-critiques-ai-connected-cars-smartphones-and-drm#Richard_Stallman_answers_questions

The "NexDock" (from Nex Computer) already turns your phone into a laptop workstation. Purism [1]chose it as the docking station for their Librem 5 phones.

But now Nex is offering its own smartphone "that runs Android 16, launches Debian, and dual-boots into Windows 11," [2]according to the blog It's FOSS :

> Fourteen years after the [3]first concept video was teased, [4]the NexPhone is here, powered by a Qualcomm [5]QCM6490 , which, the keen-eyed among you will remember from the now-discontinued [6]Fairphone 5 .

>

> By 2026 standards, it's dated hardware, but Nex Computer doesn't seem to be overselling it, as they expect the NexPhone to be a secondary or backup phone, not a flagship contender. The phone includes an Adreno 643 GPU, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 512GB via a microSD card.

>

> In terms of software, the NexPhone boots into NexOS, a bloatware-free and minimal Android 16 system, with Debian running as an app with GPU acceleration, and Windows 11 being the dual-boot option that requires a restart to access. ["And because the default Windows interface isn't designed for a handheld screen, we built our own Mobile UI from the ground up to make Windows far easier to navigate on a phone," notes a [7]blog post from Nex founder/CEO Emre Kosmaz ].

>

> And, before I forget, you can plug the NexPhone into a USB-C or HDMI display, add a keyboard and mouse to transform it into a desktop workstation.

There's a camera plus "a comprehensive suite of sensors," according to the article, "that includes a fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, and proximity sensor....

"NexPhone is slated for a Q3 2026 release (July-September)..."

Back in 2012, [8]explains Nex founder/CEO Emre Kosmaz , "most investors weren't excited about funding new hardware. One VC even told us, 'I don't understand why anyone buys anything other than Apple'..."

> Over the last decade, we kept building and shipping — six generations of NexDock — helping customers turn phones into laptop-like setups (display + keyboard + trackpad). And now the industry is catching up faster than ever. With Android 16, desktop-style experiences are becoming more native and more mainstream. That momentum is exactly why NexPhone makes sense today...

>

> Thank you for being part of this journey. With your support, I hope NexPhone can help move us toward a world where phones truly replace laptops and PCs — more often, more naturally, and for more people.



[1] https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/02/20/0518253/purism-combines-phone-docking-station-and-laptop-shell-for-lapdock-kit

[2] https://itsfoss.com/news/nexphone-returns/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd43m08d-ro

[4] https://nexphone.com/

[5] https://www.qualcomm.com/internet-of-things/products/q6-series/qcm6490

[6] https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5

[7] https://nexphone.com/blog/the-tale-of-nexphone-one-phone-every-computer

[8] https://nexphone.com/blog/the-tale-of-nexphone-one-phone-every-computer

This month saw results from a yearlong global study of " [1]potential negative risks that generative AI poses to student ". The study (by the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education) also suggests how to prevent risks and maximize benefits:

> After interviews, focus groups, and consultations with over 500 students, teachers, parents, education leaders, and technologists across 50 countries, a close review of over 400 studies, and a Delphi panel, we find that at this point in its trajectory, the risks of utilizing generative AI in children's education overshadow its benefits.

"At the top of Brookings' list of risks is the negative effect AI can have on children's cognitive growth," [2]reports NPR — "how they learn new skills and perceive and solve problems."

> The report describes a kind of doom loop of AI dependence, where students increasingly off-load their own thinking onto the technology, leading to the kind of cognitive decline or atrophy more commonly associated with aging brains... As one student told the researchers, "It's easy. You don't need to (use) your brain." The report offers a surfeit of evidence to suggest that students who use generative AI are already seeing declines in content knowledge, critical thinking and even creativity. And this could have enormous consequences if these young people grow into adults without learning to think critically...

>

> Survey responses revealed deep concern that use of AI, particularly chatbots, "is undermining students' emotional well-being, including their ability to form relationships, recover from setbacks, and maintain mental health," the report says. One of the many problems with kids' overuse of AI is that the technology is inherently sycophantic — it has been designed to reinforce users' beliefs... Winthrop offers an example of a child interacting with a chatbot, "complaining about your parents and saying, 'They want me to wash the dishes — this is so annoying. I hate my parents.' The chatbot will likely say, 'You're right. You're misunderstood. I'm so sorry. I understand you.' Versus a friend who would say, 'Dude, I wash the dishes all the time in my house. I don't know what you're complaining about. That's normal.' That right there is the problem."

AI did have some advantages, the article points out:

> The report says another benefit of AI is that it allows teachers to automate some tasks: "generating parent emails ... translating materials, creating worksheets, rubrics, quizzes, and lesson plans" — and more. The report cites multiple research studies that found important time-saving benefits for teachers, including one U.S. study that found that teachers who use AI save an average of nearly six hours a week and about six weeks over the course of a full school year...

>

> AI can also help make classrooms more accessible for students with a wide range of learning disabilities, including dyslexia. But "AI can massively increase existing divides" too, [warns Rebecca Winthrop, one of the report's authors and a senior fellow at Brookings]. That's because the free AI tools that are most accessible to students and schools can also be the least reliable and least factually accurate... "[T]his is the first time in ed-tech history that schools will have to pay more for more accurate information. And that really hurts schools without a lot of resources."

The report calls for more research — and make several recommendations (including "holistic" learning and "AI tools that teach, not tell.") But this may be their most important recommendation. "Provide a clear vision for ethical AI use that centers human agency..."

"We find that AI has the potential to benefit or hinder students, depending on how it is used."



[1] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-direction-for-students-in-an-ai-world-prosper-prepare-protect/

[2] https://www.npr.org/2026/01/14/nx-s1-5674741/ai-schools-education

Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative sponsored its third annual [1]Pwn2Own Automotive competition in Tokyo this week, receiving 73 entries, the most ever for a Pwn2Own event.

"Under Pwn2Own rules, all disclosed vulnerabilities are reported to affected vendors through ZDI," [2]reports Help Net Security , "with public disclosure delayed to allow time for patches."

> Infotainment platforms from Tesla, Sony, and Alpine were among the systems compromised during demonstrations. Researchers achieved code execution using techniques that included buffer overflows, information leaks, and logic flaws. One Tesla infotainment unit was compromised [3]through a USB-based attack , resulting in root-level access. Electric vehicle charging infrastructure also received significant attention. Teams successfully demonstrated exploits against chargers from Autel, Phoenix Contact, ChargePoint, Grizzl-E, Alpitronic, and EMPORIA. Several attacks involved chaining multiple vulnerabilities to manipulate charging behavior or execute code on the device. These demonstrations highlighted how charging stations operate as network-connected systems with direct interaction with vehicles.

There's [4]video [5]recaps on the ZDI [6]YouTube channel — apparently the Fuzzware.io researchers "were able to take over a Phoenix Contact EV charger over bluetooth."

Three researchers also exploited the Alpitronic's HYC50 fast-charging with a classic [7]TOCTOU bug, according to [8]the event's site , "and installed a playable version of Doom to boot." They earned $20,000 — part of $1,047,000 USD was awarded during the three-day event.

[9]More coverage from SecurityWeek :

> The winner of the event, the Fuzzware.io team, earned a total of $215,500 for its exploits. The team received the highest individual reward: $60,000 for an Alpitronic HYC50 EV charger exploit delivered through the charging gun. ZDI described it as "the first public exploit of a supercharger".



[1] https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2026/1/20/pwn2own-automotive-2026-the-full-schedule

[2] https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/01/22/pwn2own-automotive-2026-vulnerability-disclosure/

[3] https://www.scworld.com/brief/tesla-hacked-at-pwn2own-automotive-2026-researchers-earn-over-500k

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv2Ko0olvlM

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZtfblNrHc

[6] https://www.youtube.com/@ZeroDayInitiative/videos

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-of-check_to_time-of-use

[8] https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2026/1/23/pwn2own-automotive-2026-day-three-results-and-the-master-of-pwn

[9] https://www.securityweek.com/infotainment-ev-charger-exploits-earn-hackers-1m-at-pwn2own-automotive-2026/