An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes:

> Robotaxi development is speeding at a fast pace in China, but we don't hear much about it in the USA, where the news focuses mostly on Waymo, with a bit about Zoox, Motional, May, trucking projects and other domestic players. China has 4 main players with robotaxi service, dominated by Baidu (the Chinese Google.) A recent session at last week's Ride AI conference in Los Angeles [1]revealed some details about the different regulatory regime in China , and featured a report from a Chinese-American YouTuber who has taken on a mission to ride in the different vehicles.

>

> Zion Maffeo, deputy general counsel for Pony.AI, provided some details on regulations in China. While Pony began with U.S. operations, its public operations are entirely in China, and it does only testing in the USA. Famously it was one of the few companies to get a California "no safety driver" test permit, but then lost it after a crash, and later regained it. Chinese authorities at many levels keep a close watch over Chinese robotaxi companies. They must get approval for all levels of operation which control where they can test and operate, and how much supervision is needed. Operation begins with testing with a safety driver behind the wheel (as almost everywhere in the world,) with eventual graduation to having the safety driver in the passenger seat but with an emergency stop. Then they move to having a supervisor in the back seat before they can test with nobody in the vehicle, usually limited to an area with simpler streets.

>

> The big jump can then come to allow testing with nobody in the vehicle, but with full time monitoring by a remote employee who can stop the vehicle. From there they can graduate to taking passengers, and then expanding the service to more complex areas. Later they can go further, and not have full time remote monitoring, though there do need to be remote employees able to monitor and assist part time. Pony has a permit allowing it to have 3 vehicles per remote operator, and has one for 15 vehicles in process, but they declined comment on just how many vehicles they actually have per operator. Baidu also did not respond to queries on this. [...] In addition, Chinese jurisdictions require that the system in a car independently log any "interventions" by safety drivers in a sort of "black box" system. These reports are regularly given to regulators, though they are not made public. In California, companies must file an annual disengagement report, but they have considerable leeway on what they consider a disengagement so the numbers can't be readily compared. Chinese companies have no discretion on what is reported, and they may notify authorities of a specific objection if they wish to declare that an intervention logged in their black box should not be counted.

On her first trip, YouTuber Sophia Tung found Baidu's 5th generation robotaxi to offer a poor experience in ride quality, wait time, and overall service. However, during a return trip she tried Baidu's 6th generation vehicle in Wuhan and rated it as the best among Chinese robotaxis, approaching the quality of Waymo.



[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2025/04/14/chinese-robotaxis-have-government-black-boxes-approach-us-quality/

Samsung has [1]paused the global rollout of its One UI 7 update after a serious bug was reported that prevented some Galaxy S24 owners from unlocking their phones. The Verge reports:

> While the complaints seem to have specifically come from South Korean owners of [2]Galaxy S24 series handsets , Samsung has played it safe and [3]paused the rollout across all models worldwide. While some users will have already downloaded the update to One UI 7, using the app CheckFirm we've confirmed that the update is no longer listed on Samsung's servers as the latest firmware version across several Galaxy devices, with older patches appearing instead. Samsung hasn't confirmed the pause in the rollout, nor plans to issue a fix for users who have already downloaded the One UI 7 update. We've reached out to the company for comment.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/647888/samsung-one-ui-7-update-android-15-pause-s24-z-fold-6-flip-6

[2] https://r1.community.samsung.com/t5/%EA%B0%A4%EB%9F%AD%EC%8B%9C-z/one-ui-7-0/td-p/32578171

[3] https://x.com/UniverseIce/status/1911616077756580142

A new investigation reveals that children as young as five [1]can easily access inappropriate content and interact unsupervised with adults on Roblox , despite the platform's child-friendly image and recent safety updates. The Guardian reports:

> Describing itself as "the ultimate virtual universe," Roblox features millions of games and interactive environments, known collectively as "experiences." Some of the content is developed by Roblox, but much of it is user-generated. In 2024, the platform had more than 85 million daily active users, an estimated 40% of whom are under 13. While the company said it "deeply sympathized" with parents whose children came to harm on the platform, it said "tens of millions of people have a positive, enriching and safe experience on Roblox every day."

>

> However, in [2]an investigation shared with the Guardian , the digital-behavior experts Revealing Reality discovered "something deeply disturbing ... a troubling disconnect between Roblox's child-friendly appearance and the reality of what children experience on the platform." [...] Despite new tools launched last week aimed at giving parents more control over their children's accounts, the researchers concluded: "Safety controls that exist are limited in their effectiveness and there are still significant risks for children on the platform."



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/14/risks-children-roblox-deeply-disturbing-researchers

[2] https://think.revealingreality.co.uk/roblox-real-guide

Intel will [1]sell a 51% stake in its Altera programmable chip unit to private equity firm Silver Lake for $4.46 billion, aiming to cut costs, raise cash, and streamline the company's focus as it shifts toward becoming a contract chip manufacturer. CNBC reports:

> The deal, announced on Monday, values Altera at $8.75 billion, a sharp decline from the $17 billion Intel paid in 2015. [...] Since last year, Intel has taken steps to spin Altera out as a separate unit and said it planned to sell a portion of its stake. "Today's announcement reflects our commitment to sharpening our focus, lowering our expense structure and strengthening our balance sheet," [CEO Lip-Bu Tan], who took the helm after former top boss Pat Gelsinger's ouster, said.

>

> Altera makes programmable chips that can be used for various purposes from telecom equipment to military. Reuters had first reported in November that Silver Lake was among potential suitors competing for a minority stake in Altera. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, after which Intel expects to deconsolidate Altera's financial results from Intel's financial statements, the company said.



[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/14/intel-to-sell-51percent-stake-in-altera-to-silver-lake.html

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times:

> British laws restricting what the police can say about criminal cases are " [1]not fit for the social media age (source paywalled; [2]alternative source )," a government committee said in [3]a report released Monday in Britain that highlighted how unchecked misinformation stoked riots last summer. Violent disorder, [4]fueled by the far right , affected several towns and cities for days after a teenager killed three girls on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England. In the hours after the stabbings, false claims that the attacker was an undocumented Muslim immigrant spread rapidly online. In a report looking into the riots, a parliamentary committee said a lack of information from the authorities after the attack "created a vacuum where misinformation was able to grow." The report blamed decades-old British laws, aimed at preventing jury bias, that stopped the police from correcting false claims. By the time the police announced the suspect was British-born, those false claims had reached millions.

>

> The Home Affairs Committee, which brings together lawmakers from across the political spectrum, published its report after questioning police chiefs, government officials and emergency workers over four months of hearings. Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced to life in prison for the attack, was born and raised in Britain by a Christian family from Rwanda. A judge later found there was no evidence he was driven by a single political or religious ideology, but was obsessed with violence. [...] The committee's report acknowledged that it was impossible to determine "whether the disorder could have been prevented had more information been published." But it concluded that the lack of information after the stabbing "created a vacuum where misinformation was able to grow, further undermining public confidence," and that the law on contempt was not "fit for the social media age."



[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/world/europe/uk-riots-social-media-contempt.html

[2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/karen-bradley-london-home-affairs-committee-parliament-police-b2732984.html

[3] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmhaff/381/report.html

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_Kingdom_riots

Several crosswalk buttons in Palo Alto and nearby cities were [1]hacked over the weekend to play deepfake-style satirical audio clips mimicking Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Authorities have disabled the altered systems, but the identity of the prankster remains unknown. SFGATE reports:

> Videos of the altered crosswalks began [2]circulating on [3]social media throughout Saturday and Sunday. [...] A city employee was the first to report an issue with one of the signals at University Avenue and High Street in downtown Palo Alto, Horrigan-Taylor told SFGATE via email. Officials later discovered that as many as 12 intersections in downtown Palo Alto had been affected.

>

> "The impact is isolated," Horrigan-Taylor said. "Signal operations are otherwise unaffected, and motorists are reminded to always exercise caution around pedestrians." Officials told the outlet they've removed any devices that were tampered with and the compromised voice-over systems have since been disabled, with footage obtained by SFGATE showing several were covered in caution tape, blinking constantly and unpressable.



[1] https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/crosswalks-bay-area-deepfake-tech-billionaires-20275327.php

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1jxt1ln/someone_messed_with_the_crossing_buttons_in_menlo/?rdt=50436

[3] https://www.tiktok.com/@rosecampau/video/7492297402578111787

Meta [1]said the company plans to [2]start using data collected from its users in the European Union to train its AI systems. Engadget reports:

> Starting this week, the tech giant will begin notifying Europeans through email and its family of apps of the fact, with the message set to include an explanation of the kind of data it plans to use as part of the training. Additionally, the notification will link out to a form users can complete to opt out of the process. "We have made this objection form easy to find, read, and use, and we'll honor all objection forms we have already received, as well as newly submitted ones," says Meta.

>

> The company notes it will only use data it collects from public posts and Meta AI interactions for training purposes. It won't use private messages in its training sets, nor any interactions, public or otherwise, made by users under the age of 18. As for why the company wants to start using EU data now, it claims the information will allow it to fine tune its future models to better serve Europeans.

"We believe we have a responsibility to build AI that's not just available to Europeans, but is actually built for them. That's why it's so important for our generative AI models to be trained on a variety of data so they can understand the incredible and diverse nuances and complexities that make up European communities," Meta states.

"That means everything from dialects and colloquialisms, to hyper-local knowledge and the distinct ways different countries use humor and sarcasm on our products. This is particularly important as AI models become more advanced with multi-modal functionality, which spans text, voice, video, and imagery."



[1] https://about.fb.com/news/2025/04/making-ai-work-harder-for-europeans/

[2] http://engadget.com/ai/meta-will-start-using-data-from-eu-users-to-train-its-ai-models-175307338.html

Late Friday news broke that U.S. President Trump's new tariffs [1]included exemptions for smartphones, computer monitors, semiconductors, and other electronics. But Sunday morning America's commerce secretary insisted "a special-focus type of tariff" was coming for those products, [2]reports ABC News . President Trump "is saying they're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs," the commerce secretary told an interviewer, "but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.... This is not like a permanent sort of exemption."

The [3] Wall Street Journal notes that Sunday the president himself posted on social media that "NOBODY is getting 'off the hook' for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers... There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday. These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.'"

"The administration is expected to take the first step toward enacting the new tariffs as soon as next week," [4]reports the New York Times , "opening an investigation to determine the effects of semiconductor imports on national security."

[5]More from ABC News :

> Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that the administration's decision Friday night to exempt a range of electronic devices from tariffs implemented earlier this month was only a temporary reprieve.. Lutnick said on "This Week" that the White House will implement "a tariff model in order to encourage" the semiconductor industry, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to move its business to the United States. "We can't be beholden and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things that we need," he said.... "These are things that are national security that we need to be made in America."



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/12/1539244/trump-tariffs-add-exemptions-friday-night-for-smartphones-and-other-electronics

[2] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/commerce-secretary-lutnick-tariff-exemptions-electronics-temporary/story?id=120752319

[3] https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-trump-tariffs-trade-war-04-14-25/card/trump-says-nobody-is-getting-off-the-hook-on-tariffs-kW7igWM1IztT47vwQnt2

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/us/politics/trump-tariffs-china-chips-technology.html

[5] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/12/1539244/trump-tariffs-add-exemptions-friday-night-for-smartphones-and-other-electronics

Stanford law school graduate Peter Thiel later co-founded Facebook, PayPal, and Palantir. But in 2010 Thiel also created the Thiel Fellowship, which annually gives 20 to 30 people under the age of 23 $100,000 "to encourage students to not stick around college." (College students [1]must drop out in order to accept the fellowship .)

And now Palantir "is taking a similar approach as it maneuvers to attract new talent," [2]reports financial news site The Street :

> The company has launched what it refers to as the "Meritocracy Fellowship," a four-month internship program for recent high school graduates who have not enrolled in college. The position pays roughly $5,400 per month, more than plenty of post-college internship programs. Palantir's [3]job posting suggests that the company is especially interested in candidates with experience in programming and statistical analysis.

[4]Palantir's job listing specifically says they launched their four-month fellowship "in response to the shortcomings of university admissions," promising it would be based "solely on merit and academic excellence" (requiring an SAT score over 1459 or an ACT score above 32.) "Opaque admissions standards at many American universities have displaced meritocracy and excellence..."

> As a result, qualified students are being denied an education based on subjective and shallow criteria. Absent meritocracy, campuses have become breeding grounds for extremism and chaos... Skip the debt. Skip the indoctrination. Get the Palantir Degree...

>

> Upon successful completion of the Meritocracy Fellowship, fellows that have excelled during their time at Palantir will be given the opportunity to interview for full-time employment at Palantir.



[1] https://thielfellowship.org/faq

[2] https://www.thestreet.com/technology/palantir-launches-controversial-new-workplace-initiative

[3] https://jobs.lever.co/palantir/7fa0ceca-c30e-48de-9b27-f98469c374f3?lever-origin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=APRIL2025

[4] https://jobs.lever.co/palantir/7fa0ceca-c30e-48de-9b27-f98469c374f3?lever-origin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=APRIL2025

Remember how last weekend Meta claimed its "Maverick" AI model (in the [1]newly-released Llama-4 series ) beat GPT-4o and Gemini Flash 2 "on all benchmarks... This thing is a beast."

And then how within a day [2]several [3]AI [4]researchers pointed out that even Meta's own announcement admitted the Maverick tested on LM Arena was an "experimental chat version," as [5]TechCrunch pointed out . ("As we've [6]written about before , for various reasons, LM Arena has never been the most reliable measure of an AI model's performance. But AI companies generally haven't customized or otherwise fine-tuned their models to score better on LM Arena — or haven't admitted to doing so, at least.")

Friday TechCrunch on [7]what happened when LMArena tested the unmodified release version of Maverick (Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct).

It ranked 32nd.

"For the record, older models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet, released last June, and Gemini-1.5-Pro-002, released last September, rank higher," [8]notes the tech site Neowin .



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/06/182233/in-milestone-for-open-source-meta-releases-new-benchmark-beating-llama-4-models

[2] https://x.com/natolambert/status/1908913635373842655

[3] https://x.com/suchenzang/status/1908938638869909724

[4] https://x.com/ZainHasan6/status/1908943306936967597

[5] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/06/metas-benchmarks-for-its-new-ai-models-are-a-bit-misleading/

[6] https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/05/the-ai-industry-is-obsessed-with-chatbot-arena-but-it-might-not-be-the-best-benchmark/

[7] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/11/metas-vanilla-maverick-ai-model-ranks-below-rivals-on-a-popular-chat-benchmark/

[8] https://www.neowin.net/news/unmodified-llama-4-maverick-ranks-below-rivals-following-meta-cheating-allegations/

"More than three million children around the world are thought to have died in 2022 as a result of infections that are resistant to antibiotics," [1]reports the BBC , citing a study by two leading experts in child health that used data from sources including the World Health Organization and the World Bank:

> Experts say this new study highlights a more than tenfold increase in AMR-related infections in children in just three years. The number could have been made worse by the impact of the Covid pandemic...

>

> The report's lead authors, Doctor Yanhong Jessika Hu of Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia and Professor Herb Harwell of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, point to a significant growth in the use of antibiotics that are meant to only be held back for the most serious infections. Between 2019 and 2021 the use of "watch antibiotics", drugs with a high risk of resistance, increased by 160% in South East Asia and 126% in Africa. Over the same period, "reserve antibiotics" — last-resort treatments for severe, multidrug-resistant infections — rose by 45% in South East Asia and 125% in Africa.

>

> The authors warn that if bacteria develop resistance to these antibiotics, there will be few, if any, alternatives for treating multidrug-resistant infections.

"Antibiotics are ubiquitous around us," Professor Harwell warns in the article. "They end up in our food and the environment and so coming up with a single solution is not easy." The article also quotes a senior lecturer in microbiology at King's College London, who says the new study "marks a significant and alarming increase compared to previous data".

"These findings should serve as a wake-up call for global health leaders. Without decisive action, AMR could undermine decades of progress in child health, particularly in the world's most vulnerable regions."

Thanks to Slashdot reader [2]Bruce66423 for sharing the article.



[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0xk86l9g9o

[2] https://slashdot.org/~Bruce66423

"It is somewhat remarkable that work on AmigaOS 3.X continues in 2025," [1]notes Tom's Hardware , "given that Commodore International released AmigaOS 3.0 in 1992..."

AmigaOS 3.1 came in 1993. And now...

> Work continues on AmigaOS 3.2 with the stewards of this classic Motorola 680x0 friendly operating system, Hyperion Entertainment, releasing version 3.2.3 a few days ago.

>

> In [2]a news bulletin on the official site , Hyperion highlighted that the third update for AmigaOS 3.2 includes two years of (more than 50) fixes and enhancements... Hyperion began its quest to modernize and improve this classic version of AmigaOS for Motorola 680x0 platforms in 2018 when it released version 3.1.4. The AmigaOS 3.2 lineage began in 2021...

>

> This release is provided as a free update to owners of AmigaOS 3.2. If you don't already have this OS, you can get it now at official resellers [3]like RetroPassion UK ... Nowadays, Arm-based accelerators seem to be the path forward for modern Amiga, as opposed to retro Amiga, enthusiasts. AmigaOS 3.2.3 has a feather in its cap as it also supports classic 68K Amigas boosted by Arm accelerators [4]such as the PiStorm .



[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/33-year-old-amigaos-for-commodore-computers-gets-an-unexpected-update

[2] https://www.hyperion-entertainment.com/index.php/news/1-latest-news/320-new-update-3-for-amigaos-32-available-for-download

[3] https://www.retropassion.co.uk/product/amigaos-32-cd-rom-only/

[4] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/pistorm-raspberry-pi-amiga-pcb

"Can you help me take down the Texas lottery?"

That's what a London banker-turned-bookmaker asked "acquaintances" in 2023, [1]reports the Wall Street Journal . The plan was to buy "nearly every possible number in a coming drawing" — purchasing $1 tickets for 25.8 million possible combinations, since "The jackpot was heading to $95 million. If nobody else also picked the winning numbers, the profit would be nearly $60 million."

> Marantelli flew to the U.S. with a few trusted lieutenants. They set up shop in a defunct dentist's office, a warehouse and two other spots in Texas. The crew worked out a way to get official ticket-printing terminals. Trucks hauled in dozens of them and reams of paper... [Then Texas announced no winner in an earlier lottery, rolling its jackpot into another drawing three days later.] The machines — manned by a disparate bunch of associates and some of their children — screeched away nearly around the clock, spitting out 100 or more tickets every second. Texas politicians later likened the operation to a sweatshop.

>

> Trying to pull off the gambit required deep pockets and a knack for staying under the radar — both hallmarks of the secretive Tasmanian gambler who bankrolled the operation. Born [2]Zeljko Ranogajec , he was nicknamed "the Joker" for his ability to pull off capers at far-flung casinos and racetracks. Adding to his mystique, he changed his name to John Wilson several decades ago. Among some associates, though, he still goes by Zeljko, or Z. Over the years, Ranogajec and his partners have won hundreds of millions of dollars by applying Wall Street-style analytics to betting opportunities around the world. Like card counters at a blackjack table, they use data and math to hunt for situations ripe for flipping the house edge in their favor. Then they throw piles of money at it, betting an estimated $10 billion annually.

>

> The Texas lottery play, one of their most ambitious operations ever, paid off spectacularly with a $57.8 million jackpot win. That, in turn, spilled their activities into public view and sparked a Texas-size uproar about whether other lotto players — and indeed the entire state — had been hoodwinked. Early this month, the state's lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, called the crew's win "the biggest theft from the people of Texas in the history of Texas." In response to written questions addressed to Marantelli and Ranogajec, Glenn Gelband, a New Jersey lawyer who represents the limited partnership that claimed the Texas prize, said "all applicable laws, rules and regulations were followed...."

>

> Lottery officials and state lawmakers have taken steps to prevent a repeat.

The article also looks at a group of Princeton University graduates calling themselves Black Swan Capital that's "won millions in recent years" by targetting state lottery drawings with unusually favorable odds.

"State lottery directors say they are seeing more organized efforts to buy lottery tickets in bulk," according to the article, "but that the groups are largely operating legally and transparently..."



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-took-down-the-texas-lottery/ar-AA1COrK4

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

Somewhere in Montana sits the only coal-fired power plant in America that hasn't installed modern pollution controls to limit particulate matter, according to the Environmental Protecction Agency. Mining.com notes that it has the [1]highest emission rate of fine particulate matter out of any U.S. coal-burning power plant.

> When inhaled, the finest particles are able to penetrate deep into the lungs and even potentially the bloodstream, exacerbating heart and lung disease, causing asthma attacks and even sometimes leading to premature death.

Yet America's dirtiest coal-fired power plant — and dozens of others — "are [2]being exempted from stringent air pollution mandates ," reports Bloomberg, "as part of US. President Donald Trump's bid to revitalize the industry:

> Talen Energy Corp.'s Colstrip in Montana is among 47 plants receiving two-year waivers from rules to control mercury and other pollutants as part of a White House effort to ease regulation on coal-fired sites, according to a list seen by Bloomberg News. The exemptions were among a [3]slew of actions announced by the White House Tuesday to expand the mining and use of coal. The Trump administration has argued coal is a vital part of the mix to ensure sufficient energy supply to meet booming demand for AI data centers. The carve-out, which begins in July 2027, lasts until July 2029, according to the proclamation.

In an email to Bloomberg, a White House spokesperson said the move meant that America "will produce beautiful, clean coal" while addressing "necessary electrical demand from emerging technologies such as AI."



[1] https://www.mining.com/web/dirtiest-us-coal-fired-power-plant-applies-for-epa-exemption/

[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-exempts-dirtiest-coal-power-plant-from-pollution-rules/ar-AA1CCyvM

[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/trump-order-seeks-to-tap-coal-power-in-quest-to-dominate-ai

"Researchers say that a person's intelligence plays a bigger role in their computer proficiency than previously believed," [1]writes SciTechDaily , "so much so that practice alone may not be enough to ensure ease of use."

> A new study has found that general cognitive abilities, such as perception, reasoning, and memory, are more important than previously believed in determining a person's ability to perform everyday tasks on a computer... "It is clear that differences between individuals cannot be eliminated simply by means of training," says Antti Oulasvirta [a professor at Finland's Aalto University who conducted extensive human-computer interaction research with his team and the University of Helsinki Department of Psychology]. "In the future, user interfaces need to be streamlined for simpler use. This age-old goal has been forgotten at some point, and awkwardly designed interfaces have become a driver for the digital divide.

>

> "We cannot promote a deeper and more equal use of computers in society unless we solve this basic problem," Oulasvirta says...

>

> This is the first-ever study to measure users' actual ability to perform daily tasks on a PC, as previous studies have relied on participants self-assessing their abilities via questionnaires... "The study revealed that, in particular, working memory, attention, and executive functions stand out as the key abilities. When using a computer, you must determine the order in which things are done and keep in mind what has already been done. A purely mathematical or logical ability does not help in the same way," says university lecturer Viljami Salmela [from the University of Helsinki].

"Our results suggest that contemporary user interfaces are getting so complex that their design is starting to affect inclusivity," [2]their paper concludes , saying that it ultimately raises a question. "How can we design user interfaces to decrease the role of cognitive abilities."



[1] https://scitechdaily.com/new-study-a-lack-of-intelligence-not-training-may-be-why-people-struggle-with-computers/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158192400137X?via%3Dihub

When Microsoft announced it would stop developing MS-DOS after 1995, college student Jim Hall "packaged my own extended DOS utilities, as did others," according to [1]the web site for the resulting "FreeDOS" project .

[2]Jim Hall is also Slashdot reader #2,985, and more than 30 years later he's " [3]keeping the dream of the command prompt alive ," writes Ars Technica . In [4]a new article they note that last week the FreeDOS team [5]released version 1.4 , the first new stable update since 2022:

> The release has "a focus on stability" and includes an updated installer, new versions of common tools like fdisk , and format and the edlin text editor. The release also includes updated HTML Help files... As with older versions, the FreeDOS installer is available in multiple formats based on the kind of system you're installing it on. For any "modern" PC (where "modern" covers anything that's shipped since the turn of the millennium), ISO and USB installers are available for creating bootable CDs, DVDs, or USB drives. FreeDOS is also available for vintage systems as a completely separate "Floppy-Only Edition" that fits on 720KB, 1.44MB, or 1.2MB 5.25 and 3.5-inch floppy disks.

Jim Hall [6]composed a detailed introduction to FreeDOS 1.4 here .

He also answered questions from Slashdot's readers [7]back in 2000 and [8]again in 2019 .



[1] http://www.freedos.org/jhall/

[2] https://slashdot.org/~Jim+Hall

[3] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/30-years-later-freedos-is-still-keeping-the-dream-of-the-command-prompt-alive/

[4] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/fire-up-your-compaq-deskpro-freedos-1-4-is-the-first-stable-update-since-2022/

[5] https://www.freedos.org/download/

[6] https://allthingsopen.org/articles/getting-started-with-freedos-1-4-release-candidate-1

[7] https://news.slashdot.org/story/00/01/28/1225206/interview-freedos-leader-jim-hall-answers?sdsrc=rel

[8] https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/06/28/1933239/the-slashdot-interview-with-freedos-founder-jim-hall?sdsrc=rel

"AMD processors were instrumental in achieving a new world record," [1]reports Tom's Hardware , "during a recent Ansys Fluent computational fluid dynamics simulation run on the Frontier supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory."

The article points out that Frontier was the [2]fastest supercomputer in the world until it was beaten by [3]Lawrence Livermore Lab's El Capitan — with both computers powered by AMD GPUs:

> According to a [4]press release by Ansys , it ran a 2.2-billion-cell axial turbine simulation for Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, testing its next-generation gas turbines aimed at increasing efficiency. The simulation previously took 38.5 hours to complete on 3,700 CPU cores. By using 1,024 AMD Instinct MI250X accelerators paired with AMD EPYC CPUs in Frontier, the simulation time was slashed to 1.5 hours. This is more than 25 times faster, allowing the company to see the impact of the changes it makes on designs much more quickly...

>

> Given those numbers, the Ansys Fluent CFD simulator apparently only used a fraction of the power available on Frontier. That means it has the potential to run even faster if it can utilize all the available accelerators on the supercomputer. It also shows that, despite Nvidia's market dominance in AI GPUs, AMD remains a formidable competitor, with its CPUs and GPUs serving as the brains of some of the fastest supercomputers on Earth.



[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/supercomputers/amd-sets-new-supercomputer-record-runs-cfd-simulation-over-25x-faster-on-instinct-mi250x-gpus

[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-amd-top500-fastest-supercomputer-frontier-aurora-exaflop

[3] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-powered-el-capitan-is-now-the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-with-1-7-exaflops-of-performance-fastest-intel-machine-falls-to-third-place-on-top500-list

[4] https://www.ansys.com/news-center/press-releases/4-1-25-fluent-acceleration-with-amd-bh-ornl

Celebrating Git's 20th anniversary, GitHub [1]hosted a Q&A with Linus Torvalds , writes [2] Its FOSS News .

Among the other revelations: He says his college-age daughter sent a texting saying he's better known at her CS lab for Git than for Linux, "because they actually use Git for everything there." Which he describes as "ridiculous" because he maintained it for just four months before handing it off to Junio Hamano who's been heading up development for more than 19 years now. "When it did what I needed," Torvalds says, "I lost interest."

> Linus then goes on to share how Git was never a big thing for him, but a means to an end that prevented the Linux kernel from descending into chaos over the absence of a version control system. You see, before Git, Linux used BitKeeper for version control, but its proprietary licensing didn't sit too well with other Linux contributors, and Linus Torvalds had to look for alternatives. As it turned out, existing tools like CVS and Subversion were too slow for the job at hand, prompting him to build a new tool from scratch, with the coding part just taking 10 days for an early self-hostable version of Git.

>

> In its initial days, there were some teething issues, where users would complain about Git to Linus, even finding it too difficult to use, but things got calmer as the tool developed further.

Torvalds thinks some early adopters had trouble because they were coming from a background that was more like CVS. "The Git mindset, I came at it from a file system person's standpoint, where I had this disdain and almost hatred of most source control management projects, so I was not at all interested in maintaining the status quo."



[1] https://github.blog/open-source/git/git-turns-20-a-qa-with-linus-torvalds/?ref=news.itsfoss.com

[2] https://news.itsfoss.com/torvalds-on-git/

Here's an update [1]from the Wall Street Journal about a "widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure."

China was behind it, "Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December meeting... according to people familiar with the matter..."

> The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan, the people, who declined to be named, said... U.S. officials went public last year with unusually dire warnings about the [2]uncovered Volt Typhoon effort . They publicly attributed it to Beijing trying to get a foothold in U.S. computer networks so its army could quickly detonate damaging cyberattacks during a future conflict. [American officials at the meeting perceived the remarks as "intended to scare the U.S. from involving itself if a conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait."]

>

> The Chinese official's remarks at the December meeting were indirect and somewhat ambiguous, but most of the American delegation in the room interpreted it as a tacit admission and a warning to the U.S. about Taiwan, a former U.S. official familiar with the meeting said... In a statement, the State Department didn't comment on the meeting but said the U.S. had made clear to Beijing it will "take actions in response to Chinese malicious cyber activity," describing the hacking as "some of the gravest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security...."

>

> A Chinese official would likely only acknowledge the intrusions even in a private setting if instructed to do so by the top levels of Xi's government, said Dakota Cary, a China expert at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne. The tacit admission is significant, he said, because it may reflect a view in Beijing that the likeliest military conflict with the U.S. would be over Taiwan and that a more direct signal about the stakes of involvement needed to be sent to the Trump administration. "China wants U.S. officials to know that, yes, they do have this capability, and they are willing to use it," Cary said.

The article notes that top U.S. officials have said America's Defense Department "will pursue more offensive cyber strikes against China."

But it adds that the administration "also plans to dismiss hundreds of cybersecurity workers in sweeping job cuts and last week fired the director of the National Security Agency and his deputy, fanning concerns from some intelligence officials and lawmakers that the government would be weakened in defending against the attacks."



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-secret-meeting-china-acknowledged-role-in-us-infrastructure-hacks/ar-AA1CGMb8

[2] https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-disables-chinese-hacking-operation-that-targeted-critical-infrastructure-184bb407

Long-time Slashdot reader [1]sandbagger brings news that in June "a rare screening of the original 1977 Star Wars movie — complete with Han shooting first — will be shown at a theater in London..."

[2] Petapixel reports :

> Subsequent alterations made to the film are well-documented: Han Solo being shot at by the bounty hunter Greedo first, rather than the original in which anti-hero Han killed Greedo without being shot at. Then there is the [3]addition of a CGI Jabba the Hutt who was only mentioned by name in the 1977 release. Fans have also complained about the color grading painted on re-releases.

>

> But for those attending the British Film Institute (BFI)'s Film on Film festival in London, they are in for a treat. Star Wars will play not once but twice on the opening night on June 12... BFI [4]says the print is "unfaded " and "ready to transport us to a long time ago, and a galaxy far, far away, back to the moment in 1977 when George Lucas's vision cast a spell on cinema audiences."

>

> Lucas has little sympathy for those who want to see his first version of the film, [5]telling the Associated Press in 2004 , "I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be."

The film festival [6]promises "a glorious dye-transfer" of Star Wars — and will also show "a pristine 35mm print of the original US pilot episode of Twin Peaks , screening for the first time ever in the UK" — followed by a Q&A with the 1990 show's original star Kyle MacLachlan.

> On display to coincide with the opening night screening there is also a rare opportunity to view material from the original continuity script for Star Wars , which includes rare on-set Polaroids, annotations and deleted scenes. The script is from the collection of Ann Skinner, script editor on the original film, and is now cared for by the BFI National Archive.



[1] https://www.slashdot.org/~sandbagger

[2] https://petapixel.com/2025/04/11/original-star-wars-cut-will-be-shown-at-a-theater-for-first-time-in-decades/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdBYEa-4NZI

[4] https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/bfi-film-film-festival-line-up-star-wars-twin-peaks

[5] https://www.today.com/popculture/lucas-talks-star-wars-trilogy-returns-wbna6011380

[6] https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/bfi-film-film-festival-line-up-star-wars-twin-peaks