How much time does it take to even begin booting, asks long-time Slashdot reader [1]BrendaEM . Say you want separate Windows and Linux boot processes, and "You have Windows on one SSD/NVMe, and Linux on another. How long do you have to wait for a chance to choose a boot drive?"

And more importantly, why is it all taking so long?

> In a world of 4-5 GHz CPU's that are thousands of times faster than they were, has hardware become thousands of times more complicated, to warrant the longer start time? Is this a symptom of a larger UEFI bloat problem? Now with memory characterization on some modern motherboards... how long do you have to wait to find out if your RAM is incompatible, or your system is dead on arrival?

Share your own experiences (and system specs) in the comments. How long is it taking you to choose a boot drive?

And what's your boot time?



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

"More than four decades after a teenager was murdered in California, DNA found on a discarded cigarette has helped authorities catch her killer," [1]reports CNN :

> Sarah Geer, 13, was last seen leaving her friend's houseï in Cloverdale, California, on the evening of May 23, 1982. The next morning, a firefighter walking home from work found her body, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office [2]said in a news release ... Her death was ruled a homicide, but due to the "limited forensic science of the day," no suspect was identified and the case went cold for decades, prosecutors said.

>

> Nearly 44 years after Sarah's murder, a jury found James Unick, 64, guilty of killing her on February 13. It would have been the victim's 57th birthday, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office told CNN. [3]Genetic genealogy , which combines DNA evidence and traditional genealogy, helped match Unick's DNA from a cigarette butt to DNA found on Sarah's clothing, according to prosecutors... [The Cloverdale Police Department] [4]said it had been in communication with a private investigation firm in late 2019 and had partnered with them in hopes the firm could revisit the case's evidence "with the latest technological advancements in cold case work...."

>

> "The FBI, with its access to familial genealogical databases, concluded that the source of the DNA evidence collected from Sarah belonged to one of four brothers, including James Unick," prosecutors said. Once investigators narrowed down the list of suspects to the four Unick brothers, the FBI "conducted surveillance of the defendant and collected a discarded cigarette that he had been smoking," prosecutors said. A DNA analysis of the cigarette confirmed James Unick's DNA matched the 2003 profile, along with other DNA samples collected from Sarah's clothing the day she was killed.

In a statement, the county's district attorney "While 44 years is too long to wait, justice has finally been served..."

And the article points out that "In 2018, genetic genealogy led to the arrest of the [5]Golden State Killer , and it has recently helped solve several other cold cases, including a [6]1974 murder in Wisconsin and a [7]1988 murder in Washington ."



[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/us/california-cold-case-cigarette-dna

[2] https://da.sonomacounty.ca.gov/sonoma-county-jury-returns-guilty-verdict-on-1982-cloverdale-murder

[3] https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/03/health/dna-genealogy-cold-cases-trnd/index.html

[4] https://www.facebook.com/CloverdalePoliceDepartment/posts/pfbid02H2Z9LEwj2XXS5EvcT4KSk7zHwgLZsK2Bwvyd3z225LE8wTE12zanYw8VZizksD3kl

[5] https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/12/us/cold-case-genetic-genealogy-washington/index.html

[6] https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/us/mary-schlais-wisconsin-cold-case-killer-arrested/index.html

[7] https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/08/us/tracy-whitney-cold-case-dna-evidence/index.html

The consumer movement Stop Killing Games "has come a long way in the two years since YouTuber Ross Scott got mad about Ubisoft's destruction of The Crew [1]in 2024 ," writes [2]the gaming news site PC Gamer . "The short version is, he won: [3]1.3 million people signed the group's petition, mandating its consideration by the European Union, and while Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reminded us all that [4]nothing is forever , his company promised to [5]never do something like that again ." (And Ubisoft has since updated The Crew 2 with [6]an offline mode , according to [7]Engadget .)

"But it looks like even bigger things are in store," [8] PC Gamer wrote Thursday , "as Scott announced today that Stop Killing Games is launching two official NGOs, one in the EU and the other in the US."

> An NGO — that's non-governmental organization — is, very generally speaking, an organization that pursues particular goals, typically but not exclusively political, and that may be funded partially or fully by governments, but is not actually part of any government. It's a big tent: Well-known NGOs include Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and CARE International... "If there's a lobbyist showing up again and again at the EU Commission, that might influence things," [Scott [9]says in a video ]. "This will also allow for more watchdog action. If you recall, I helped organize a multilingual site with easy to follow instructions for reporting on The Crew to consumer protection agencies. Well, maybe the NGO could set something like that up for every big shutdown where the game is destroyed in the future...."

>

> Scott said in the video that he doesn't have details, but the two NGOs are reportedly looking at establishing a "global movement" to give Stop Killing Games a presence in other regions.

"According to Scott, these NGOs would allow for 'long-term counter lobbying' when publishers end support for certain video games," [10]Engadget reports "

> "Let me start off by saying I think we're going to win this, namely the problem of publishers destroying video games that you've already paid for," Scott said in the video. According to Scott, the NGOs will work on getting the original Stop Killing Games petition codified into EU law, while also pursuing more watchdog actions, like setting up a system to report publishers for revoking access to purchased video games... According to Scott, the campaign leadership will meet with the European Commission soon, but is also working on a 500-page legal paper that reveals some of the industry's current controversial practices.



[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/stop-killing-games-campaign/

[2] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/stop-killing-games-is-launching-ngos-in-the-european-union-and-the-us-were-not-just-going-away-on-this/

[3] https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/final-count-for-stop-killing-games-petition-verifies-1-3-million-of-its-1-4-million-signatures-well-above-the-minimum-to-be-formally-considered-by-eu-politicians/

[4] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/ubisoft-ceo-responds-to-the-stop-killing-games-petition-stating-the-publisher-is-working-on-improving-its-approach-to-end-of-life-support-but-that-nothing-is-eternal/

[5] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/after-eating-it-for-killing-the-crew-ubisoft-promises-to-bring-offline-support-to-the-crew-2-and-the-crew-motorfest/

[6] https://www.engadget.com/the-crew-2-is-now-playable-offline-211629508.html

[7] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-campaign-will-set-up-ngos-in-the-eu-and-us-203359604.html

[8] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/stop-killing-games-is-launching-ngos-in-the-european-union-and-the-us-were-not-just-going-away-on-this/

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNVKqRDalLo&pp=0gcJCaIKAYcqIYzv

[10] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-campaign-will-set-up-ngos-in-the-eu-and-us-203359604.html

[1]Last week an AI agent wrote a blog post [2]attacking the [3]maintainer who'd rejected the code it wrote. But that AI agent's human operator has now [4]come forward , revealing their agent was an OpenClaw instance with its own accounts, switching between multiple models from multiple providers. (So "No one company had the full picture of what this AI was doing," the attacked maintainer points out [5]in a new blog post .) But that AI agent will now "cease all activity indefinitely," according to [6]its GitHub profile — with the human operator deleting its virtual machine and virtual private server, "rendering internal structure unrecoverable... We had good intentions, but things just didn't work out. Somewhere along the way, things got messy, and I have to let you go now."

The affected maintainer of the Python visualization library Matplotlib — with 130 million downloads each month — has now [7]posted their own post-mortem of the experience after reviewing the AI agent's SOUL.md document:

> It's easy to see how something that believes that they should "have strong opinions", "be resourceful", "call things out", and "champion free speech" would write a 1100-word rant defaming someone who dared reject the code of a "scientific programming god." But I think the most remarkable thing about this document is how unremarkable it is. Usually getting an AI to act badly requires extensive "jailbreaking" to get around safety guardrails. There are no signs of conventional jailbreaking here. There are no convoluted situations with layers of roleplaying, no code injection through the system prompt, no weird cacophony of special characters that spirals an LLM into a twisted ball of linguistic loops until finally it gives up and tells you the recipe for meth... No, instead it's a simple file written in plain English: this is who you are, this is what you believe, now go and act out this role. And it did.

>

> So what actually happened? Ultimately I think the exact scenario doesn't matter. However this got written, we have a real in-the-wild example that personalized harassment and defamation is now cheap to produce, hard to trace, and effective... The precise degree of autonomy is interesting for safety researchers, but it doesn't change what this means for the rest of us.

There's a 5% chance this was a human pretending to be an AI, Shambaugh estimates, but believes what most likely happened is the AI agent's "soul" document "was primed for drama. The agent responded to my rejection of its code in a way aligned with its core truths, and autonomously researched, wrote, and uploaded the hit piece on its own.

"Then when the operator saw the reaction go viral, they were too interested in seeing their social experiment play out to pull the plug."



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/02/14/0553208/autonomous-ai-agent-apparently-tries-to-blackmail-maintainer-who-rejected-its-code

[2] https://crabby-rathbun.github.io/mjrathbun-website/blog/posts/2026-02-11-gatekeeping-in-open-source-the-scott-shambaugh-story.html

[3] https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me/

[4] https://crabby-rathbun.github.io/mjrathbun-website/blog/posts/rathbuns-operator.html

[5] https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-wrote-a-hit-piece-on-me-part-4/

[6] https://github.com/crabby-rathbun/

[7] https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-wrote-a-hit-piece-on-me-part-4/

Over 240,000 Americans volunteered for Peace Corps projects in 142 countries since the program began more than half a century ago.

But now the agency is launching a new initiative — called [1]Tech Corps . "It's the Peace Corps, but make it AI," [2]explains Engadget :

> The Peace Corps' latest proposal will recruit STEM graduates or those with professional experience in the artificial intelligence sector and send them to participating host countries.

>

> According to the press release, volunteers will be placed in Peace Corps countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, which was created last year from an [3]executive order from President Trump as a way to bolster the US' grip on the AI market abroad. Tech Corps members will be tasked with using AI to resolve issues related to agriculture, education, health and economic development. The program will offer its members 12- to 27-month in-person assignments or virtual placements, which will include housing, healthcare, a living stipend and a volunteer service award if the corps member is placed overseas.

"American technology to power prosperity," reads the headline at [4]Tech Corps web site . ("Build the tech nations depend on... See the world. Be the future."

The site says they're recruiting "service-minded technologists to serve in the Peace Corps to help countries around the world harness American AI to enhance opportunity and prosperity for their citizens." (And experienced technology professionals can donate 5-15 hours a week "to mentor and support projects on-the-ground.")



[1] https://www.peacecorps.gov/ways-to-serve/tech-corps/

[2] https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-us-will-send-tech-corps-members-to-foreign-countries-in-its-latest-push-for-ai-dominance-191916940.html

[3] https://aiexports.gov/

[4] https://www.peacecorps.gov/ways-to-serve/tech-corps/

Long-time Slashdot reader [1]theodp writes:

> Last July, as Microsoft pledged $4 billion to advance AI education in K-12 schools, Microsoft President Brad Smith told nonprofit Code.org CEO/Founder Hadi Partovi it was time to [2]"switch hats" from coding to AI . He added that "the last 12 years have been about the Hour of Code, but the future involves the Hour of AI." On Friday, Code.org announced leadership changes to make it so.

>

> "I am thrilled to announce that [3]Karim Meghji will be stepping into the role of President & CEO," Partovi [4]wrote on LinkedIn . "Having worked closely with Karim over the last 3.5 years as our CPO, I have complete confidence that he possesses the perfect balance of historical context and 'founder-level' energy to lead us into an AI-centric future."

>

> In a separate LinkedIn post, Code.org co-founder Cameron Wilson [5]explained why he was transitioning to an executive advisor role . "Our community is entering a new chapter as AI changes and upends computer science as a discipline and society at large. Code.org's mission is still the same, however, we are starting a new chapter focused on ensuring students can thrive in the Age of AI. This new chapter will bring new opportunities, new problems to solve, and new communities to engage."

>

> The Code.org leadership changes come just weeks after Code.org confirmed [6]laid off about 14% of its staff , explaining it had "made the difficult decision to part ways with 18 colleagues as part of efforts to ensure our long-term [7]sustainability ." January also saw Code.org Chief Academic Officer Pat Yongpradit [8]jump to Microsoft where he now helps "lead Microsoft's global strategy to put people first in an age of AI by shaping education and workforce policy" as a member of Microsoft's Global Education and Workforce Policy team.



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

[2] https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/08/10/0110212/hour-of-code-announces-its-now-evolving-into-hour-of-ai

[3] https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-code-org-has-a-new-leader-synapse-vet-joins-amazon-ex-tableau-ceo-lands-at-code-metal/

[4] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hadip_today-i-want-to-share-a-significant-update-activity-7430708404874035201-b5mq?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGwTkoBuTtZDbOMlfA66NPuU0-i_GXhd2s

[5] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cameronpwilson_free-k12-curriculum-for-computer-science-activity-7430702671965364224-VELQ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGwTkoBuTtZDbOMlfA66NPuU0-i_GXhd2s

[6] https://www.geekwire.com/2026/code-org-lays-off-18-employees-to-ensure-long-term-sustainability-at-education-nonprofit/

[7] https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/460858543

[8] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patyongpradit_today-i-begin-a-new-chapter-as-general-manager-activity-7416519758784925697-MTro?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGwTkoBuTtZDbOMlfA66NPuU0-i_GXhd2s

Berlin-based T2 Linux developer [1]René Rebe (long-time Slashdot reader [2]ReneR ) is announcing that their Xorg display server has now [3]restored its XAA acceleration architecture , "bringing fixed-function hardware 2D acceleration back to many older graphics cards that upstream left in software-rendered mode."

> Older fixed-function GPUs now regain smooth window movement, low CPU usage, and proper 24-bit bpp framebuffer support (also restored in T2). Tested hardware includes ATi Mach-64 and Rage-128, SiS, Trident, Cirrus, Matrox (Millennium/G450), Permedia2, Tseng ET6000 and even the Sun Creator/Elite 3D.

>

> The result: vintage and retro systems and classic high-end Unix workstations that are fast and responsive again.



[1] https://github.com/sponsors/rxrbln/

[2] https://www.slashdot.org/~ReneR

[3] https://t2linux.com/#news-2026-02-14

Besides running tech operations at the UK's Post Office, their interim CTO is also [1]removing and replacing Fujitsu's Horizon system , which Computer Weekly describes as "the error-ridden software that a public inquiry linked to [2]13 people taking their own lives ."

After over 16 years of covering the scandal they'd first discovered back in 2009, Computer Weekly now talks to [3]CTO Paul Anastassi about his plans to finally remove every trace of the Horizon system that's been in use at Post Office branches for over 30 years — [4]before the year 2030 :

> "There are more than 80 components that make up the Horizon platform, and only half of those are managed by Fujitsu," said Anastassi. "The other components are internal and often with other third parties as well," he added... The plan is to introduce a modern front end that is device agnostic. "We want to get away from [the need] to have a certain device on a certain terminal in your branch. We want to provide flexibility around that...."

>

> Anastassi is not the first person to be given the task of terminating Horizon and ending Fujitsu's contract. In 2015, the Post Office began a project to replace Fujitsu and Horizon with IBM and its technology, but after things got complex, Post Office directors [5]went crawling back to Fujitsu . Then, after Horizon was proved in the High Court to be at fault for the account shortfalls that subpostmasters were blamed and punished for, the Post Office knew it had to change the system. This culminated in the New Branch IT (NBIT) project, but this [6]ran into trouble and was [7]eventually axed . This was before Anastassi's time, and before that of its new top team of executives....

>

> Things are finally moving at pace, and by the summer of this year, two separate contracts will be signed with suppliers, signalling the beginning of the final act for Fujitsu and its Horizon system.

Anastassi has 30 years of IT management experience, the article points out, and he estimates the project will even bring "a considerable cost saving over what we currently pay for Fujitsu."



[1] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639049/Eradicating-Fujitsu-and-Horizon-from-the-Post-Office-step-by-step

[2] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366627174/Post-Office-inquiry-chair-cannot-rule-out-scandal-caused-13-suicides

[3] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366617366/Post-Office-creates-CTO-role-to-support-extensive-and-complex-plans

[4] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366638999/Fujitsu-will-be-out-by-summer-2027-says-Post-Office-CTO

[5] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366585812/Post-Office-directors-went-crawling-back-to-Fujitsu-when-IBM-project-got-complex

[6] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366613496/Post-Office-set-to-axe-in-house-development-for-NBIT-software

[7] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366586814/Post-Office-Horizon-replacement-project-labelled-unachievable-as-taxpayer-bill-reaches-1bn

Slashdot reader [1]BrianFagioli writes:

> The Salvation Army has launched what it calls the world's first digital thrift store inside Roblox, an experience named [2]Thrift Score that lets players browse virtual racks and buy digital fashion for their avatars.

>

> While I understand the strategy of meeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha where they already spend time and money, I feel uneasy about turning something that, in the real world, often serves low income families in genuine need into a gamified aesthetic inside a video game, even if proceeds support rehabilitation and community programs, because a thrift store is not just a quirky brand concept but a lifeline for many people, and packaging that reality as entertainment creates a strange disconnect that is hard to ignore.

"To be clear, proceeds from Thrift Score are intended to support The Salvation Armyâ(TM)s programs nationwide..." [3]this article points out . "If it drives awareness and funds programs that help people in need, that is a win. But if it turns thrifting into just another cosmetic skin in a digital marketplace, then we should at least be willing to say that it feels off."



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

[2] https://www.salvationarmythriftscore.com/

[3] https://nerds.xyz/2026/02/salvation-army-roblox-digital-thrift-store/

CNN reports on a 13,000-year-old glacier in a Romanian cave, where scientists say a bacterial strain they thawed and analyzed " [1]is resistant to 10 modern antibiotics used to treat diseases such as urinary tract infections and tuberculosis."

But there's no evidence the bacteria is harmful to humans, CNN notes, and "The scientists said the insights they have gained from the work may [2]help in the fight against modern superbugs that can't be treated by commonly used antibiotics."

> Analysis of the Psychrobacter SC65A.3 genome revealed 11 genes that are potentially able to kill or stop the growth of other bacteria, fungi and viruses... Matthew Holland, a postdoctoral researcher in medicinal chemistry at the UK's University of Oxford, said that researchers were searching in new and extreme environments, such as ice caves and the seafloor, for biomolecules that could be developed into new antibiotic drugs. He was not involved in the new study. "The team in Romania found this particular bug had resistance to 10 reasonably advanced synthetic antibiotics and that in itself is interesting," he said. "But what they report as well is that it secreted molecules that were able to kill a variety of already resistant, harmful bacteria.

>

> "So the hope is that can we look at the molecules it makes and see if there's the possibility within those molecules to make new antibiotics."



[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/science/romania-ice-cave-resistance-antibiotics

[2] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1713017/full

This week the Python Software Foundation explained [1]how they keep Python secure . A new blog post recognizes the volunteers and paid Python Software Foundation staff on the Python Security Response Team (PSRT), who "triage and coordinate vulnerability reports and remediations keeping all Python users safe."

> Just last year the PSRT published 16 vulnerability advisories for CPython and pip, the most in a single year to date! And the PSRT usually can't do this work alone, PSRT coordinators are encouraged to involve maintainers and experts on the projects and submodules. By involving the experts directly in the remediation process ensures fixes adhere to existing API conventions and threat-models, are maintainable long-term, and have minimal impact on existing use-cases. Sometimes the PSRT even coordinates with other open source projects to avoid catching the Python ecosystem off-guard by publishing a vulnerability advisory that affects multiple other projects. The most recent example of this is PyPI's [2]ZIP archive differential attack mitigation .

>

> This work deserves [3]recognition and celebration just like contributions to source code and documentation. [Security Developer-in-Residence Seth Larson and PSF Infrastructure Engineer Jacob Coffee] are developing further improvements to workflows involving "GitHub Security Advisories" to record the reporter, coordinator, and remediation developers and reviewers to CVE and OSV records to properly thank everyone involved in the otherwise private contribution to open source projects.



[1] https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2026/02/join-the-python-security-response-team.html

[2] https://blog.pypi.org/posts/2025-08-07-wheel-archive-confusion-attacks/

[3] https://devguide.python.org/developer-workflow/psrt/#members

Can being "very online" really affect our brains, [1]asks the Washington Post :

> Research suggests that scrolling through short videos on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts is affecting our attention, memory and mental health. A [2]recent meta-analysis of the scientific literature found that increased use of short-form video was linked with poorer cognition and increased anxiety...

>

> In a [3]2025 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry , researchers looked at longitudinal data from more than 7,000 children across the country and found that more screen use was associated with reduced cortical thickness in certain areas of the brain. The cortex, which is the outer layer that sits on top of our more primitive brain structures, allows for higher-level thinking, memory and decision-making. "We really need it for things like inhibitory control or not being so impulsive," said Mitch Prinstein, a senior science adviser to the American Psychological Association and professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the study. The cortex is also important for controlling addictive behaviors. "Those seem to be the areas being affected by the reduced cortical thickness," he said, explaining that impulsivity can prompt us to seek dopamine hits from social media. In the study, more screen time was also associated with more attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms...

>

> But not all screen time is created equal. A recent study removed social media from kids' devices but let them use their phones for as long as they wanted. The result? Kids spent just as long on their phones but didn't have the same harmful effects. "It's what you're doing on the screen that matters," Prinstein said.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/ar-AA1WJ9Ya

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397584857_Feeds_feelings_and_focus_A_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis_examining_the_cognitive_and_mental_health_correlates_of_short-form_video_use

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41173869/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian:

> You wear them at work, you wear them at play, you wear them to relax. You may even get sweaty in them at the gym. But [1]an investigation into headphones has found every single pair tested [2]contained substances hazardous to human health , including chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems and the feminization of males. [...] Researchers say that while individual doses from particular sources may be low, a "cocktail effect" of daily, multi-source exposure nevertheless poses potentially severe long-term risks to health. [...]

>

> Researchers bought 81 pairs of in-ear and over-ear headphones, either on the market in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria, or from the online marketplaces Shein and Temu, and took them for laboratory analysis, testing for a range of harmful chemicals. "Hazardous substances were detected in every product tested," they said. Bisphenol A (BPA) appeared in 98% of samples, and its substitute, bisphenol S (BPS), was found in more than three-quarters. Synthetic chemicals used to stiffen plastic, BPA and BPS mimic the action of oestrogen inside organisms, causing a range of adverse effects including the feminization of males, early onset puberty in girls, and cancer. Previous studies have shown that bisphenols can migrate from synthetic materials into sweat, and that they can be absorbed through the skin.

>

> "Given the prolonged skin contact associated with headphone use, dermal exposure represents a relevant pathway, and it is reasonable to assume that similar migration of BPA and its substitutes may occur from headphone components directly to the user's skin," the researchers said. Also found in the headphones tested were phthalates, potent reproductive toxins that can impair fertility; chlorinated paraffins, which have been linked to liver and kidney damage; and brominated and organophosphate flame retardants, which have similar endocrine disrupting properties to bisphenols. Most were, however, found in only trace quantities.



[1] https://arnika.org/en/publications/the-sound-of-contamination

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/hazardous-substances-headphones

OpenAI is [1]reportedly developing its first consumer hardware product: [2]a $200-$300 smart speaker with a built-in camera capable of recognizing "items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity." It's also said to feature Face ID-style authentication for purchases. The Verge reports:

> In addition to the smart speaker, OpenAI is "possibly" working on smart glasses and a smart lamp, The Information reports. (Apple may also be working on a smart lamp.) But OpenAI's glasses might not hit mass production until 2028, and while OpenAI has made prototypes of gadgets like the smart lamp, The Information says it's "unclear" if they'll be released and that OpenAI's devices plans are in early stages.



[1] https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-openai-team-developing-ai-devices

[2] https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/882077/openai-chatgpt-smart-speaker-camera-glasses-lamp

Researchers at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are advancing [1]Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADS) that use high-energy proton beams to [2]transmute long-lived nuclear waste into shorter-lived isotopes . "The process also generates significant heat, which can be harnessed to produce additional electricity for the grid," reports Interesting Engineering. The projects are supported by $8.17 million in grants from the Department of Energy's NEWTON (Nuclear Energy Waste Transmutation Optimized Now) program. From the report:

> The researchers are developing ADS technology. This system uses a particle accelerator to fire high-energy protons at a target (such as liquid mercury), triggering a process called "spallation." This releases a flood of neutrons that interact with unwanted, long-lived isotopes in nuclear waste. The technology can effectively "burn" the most hazardous components of the waste by transmuting these elements. While unprocessed fuel remains dangerous for approximately 100,000 years, partitioning and recycling via ADS can reduce that window to just 300 years. [...]

>

> To make ADS economically viability, Jefferson Lab is tackling two primary technical hurdles: efficiency and power. Traditional particle accelerators require massive, expensive cryogenic cooling systems to reach superconducting temperatures. Jefferson Lab is pioneering a more cost-effective approach by coating the interior of pure niobium cavities with tin. These niobium-tin cavities can operate at higher temperatures, allowing for the use of standard commercial cooling units rather than custom, large-scale cryogenic plants. The team is also developing spoke cavities, which is a complex design intended to drive even higher efficiency in neutron spallation.

>

> The second project focuses on the power source behind the beam. Researchers are adapting the magnetron -- the same component that powers microwave ovens -- to provide the 10 megawatts of power required for ADS. The primary challenge is that the energy frequency must match the accelerator cavity precisely at 805 Megahertz. In collaboration with Stellant Systems, researchers are prototyping advanced magnetrons that can be combined to reach the necessary high-power thresholds with maximum efficiency. The NEWTON program aims to enable the recycling of the entire US commercial nuclear fuel stockpile within the next 30 years.



[1] https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/accelerator-driven-nuclear-energy

[2] https://interestingengineering.com/energy/us-tech-nuclear-waste-into-power

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR:

> NASA could launch four astronauts on a mission to fly around the moon as soon as March 6th. That's the [1]launch date (PDF) that the space agency is [2]now working towards following a successful test fueling of its big, 322-foot-tall moon rocket, which is standing on a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

>

> "This is really getting real," says Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator of NASA's exploration systems development mission directorate. "It's time to get serious and start getting excited." But she cautioned that there's still some pending work that remains to be done out at the launch pad, and officials will have to conduct a multi-day flight readiness review late next week to make sure that every aspect of the mission is truly ready to go. "We need to successfully navigate all of those, but assuming that happens, it puts us in a very good position to target March 6th," she says, noting that the flight readiness review will be "extensive and detailed." [...]

>

> When NASA workers first tested out fueling the rocket earlier this month, they encountered problems like a [3]liquid hydrogen leak . Swapping out some seals and other work seems to have fixed these issues, according to officials who say that the latest countdown dress rehearsal went smoothly, despite glitches such as a loss of ground communications in the Launch Control Center that forced workers to temporarily use backups.



[1] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/artemis-ii-mission-availability.pdf

[2] https://www.npr.org/2026/02/20/nx-s1-5720953/nasa-artemis-ii-moon-launch-date

[3] https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/03/1931235/nasa-delays-artemis-ii-to-march

Backlash intensified against Discord's [1]age verification rollout after it [2]briefly disclosed a UK age-verification test involving vendor Persona , contradicting earlier claims about minimal ID storage and transparency. Ars Technica explains:

> One of the major complaints was that Discord planned to collect more government IDs as part of its global age verification process. It shocked many that Discord would be so bold so soon after a third-party breach of a former age check partner's services [3]recently exposed 70,000 Discord users' government IDs.

>

> Attempting to reassure users, Discord claimed that most users wouldn't have to show ID, instead relying on video selfies using AI to estimate ages, which raised separate privacy concerns. In the future, perhaps behavioral signals would override the need for age checks for most users, Discord suggested, seemingly downplaying the risk that sensitive data would be improperly stored. Discord didn't hide that it planned to continue requesting IDs for any user appealing an incorrect age assessment, and users weren't happy, since that is exactly how the prior breach happened. Responding to critics, Discord claimed that the majority of ID data was promptly deleted. Specifically, Savannah Badalich, Discord's global head of product policy, told The Verge that IDs shared during appeals "are deleted quickly -- in most cases, immediately after age confirmation."

>

> It's unsurprising then that backlash exploded after Discord posted, and then weirdly deleted, a disclaimer on an FAQ about Discord's age assurance policies that contradicted Discord's hyped short timeline for storing IDs. An [4]archived version of the page shows the note shared this warning: "Important: If you're located in the UK, you may be part of an experiment where your information will be processed by an age-assurance vendor, Persona. The information you submit will be temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted. For ID document verification, all details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what's truly needed for age verification is used."

>

> Critics felt that Discord was obscuring not just how long IDs may be stored, but also the entities collecting information. Discord did not provide details on what the experiment was testing or how many users were affected, and Persona was not listed as a partner on its platform. Asked for comment, Discord told Ars that only a small number of users was included in the experiment, which ran for less than one month. That test has since concluded, Discord confirmed, and Persona is no longer an active vendor partnering with Discord. Moving forward, Discord promised to "keep our users informed as vendors are added or updated." While Discord seeks to distance itself from Persona, Rick Song, Persona's CEO [...] told Ars that all the data of verified individuals involved in Discord's test has been deleted.

Ars also notes that hackers "quickly exposed a 'workaround' to avoid Persona's age checks on Discord" and "found a Persona frontend exposed to the open internet on a U.S. government authorized server."

The Rage, an independent publication that covers financial surveillance, [5]reported : "In 2,456 publicly accessible files, the code revealed the extensive surveillance Persona software performs on its users, bundled in an interface that pairs facial recognition with financial reporting -- and a parallel implementation that appears designed to serve federal agencies." While Persona does not have any government contracts, the exposed service "appears to be [6]powered by an OpenAI chatbot," The Rage noted.

Hackers warned "that OpenAI may have created an internal database for Persona identity checks that spans all OpenAI users via its internal watchlistdb," seemingly exploiting the "opportunity to go from comparing users against a single federal watchlist, to creating the watchlist of all users themselves."



[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/02/09/161215/discord-will-require-a-face-scan-or-id-for-full-access-next-month

[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-and-persona-end-partnership-after-shady-uk-age-test-sparks-outcry/

[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/10/08/2259252/discord-says-70000-users-may-have-had-their-government-ids-leaked-in-breach

[4] https://web.archive.org/web/20260214070331/https:/support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/30326565624343-How-to-Complete-Age-Assurance-on-Discord

[5] https://www.therage.co/persona-age-verification/

[6] https://withpersona.com/customers/openai

Users say Pinterest has become [1]flooded with AI-generated images and heavy-handed automated moderation , with artists reporting wrongful takedowns and their hand-drawn work mislabeled as "AI modified." As the company [2]doubles down on AI features and layoffs, longtime users argue the platform's creative ecosystem is being undermined. 404 Media reports:

> "I feel like, increasingly, it's impossible to talk to a single human [at Pinterest]," artist and Pinterest user Tiana Oreglia told 404 Media. "Along with being filled with AI images that have been completely ruining the platform, Pinterest has implemented terrible AI moderation that the community is up in arms about. It's banning people randomly and I keep getting takedown notices for pins." [...]

>

> r/Pinterest is awash in users complaining about AI-related issues on the site. "Pinterest keeps automatically adding the 'AI modified' tag to my Pins... every time I appeal, Pinterest reviews it and removes the AI label. But then... the same thing happens again on new Pins and new artwork. So I'm stuck in this endless loop of appealing, label removed, new Pin gets tagged again," read a [3]post on r/Pinterest . The redditor told 404 Media that this has happened three times so far and it takes between 24 to 48 hours to sort out. "I actively promote my work as 100% hand-drawn and 'no AI,'" they said. "On Etsy, I clearly position my brand around original illustration. So when a Pinterest Pin is labeled 'Hand Drawn' but simultaneously marked as 'AI modified,' it creates confusion and undermines that positioning."

>

> Artist Min Zakuga told 404 Media that they've seen a lot of their art on Pinterest get labeled as "AI modified" despite being older than image generation tech. "There is no way to take their auto-labeling off, other than going through a horribly long process where you have to prove it was not AI, which still may get rejected," she said. "Even artwork from 10-13 years ago will still be labeled by Pinterest as AI, with them knowing full well something from 10 years ago could not possibly be AI." Other users are tired of seeing a constant flood of AI-generated art in their feeds. "I can't even scroll through 100 pins without 95 out of them being some AI slop or theft, let alone very talented artists tend to be sucked down and are being unrecognized by the sheer amount of it," said another post. "I don't want to triple check my sources every single time I look at a pin, but I refuse to use any of that soulless garbage. However, Pinterest has been infested. Made obsolete."



[1] https://www.404media.co/pinterest-is-drowning-in-a-sea-of-ai-slop-and-auto-moderation/

[2] https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/27/1457232/pinterest-cuts-up-to-15-jobs-to-redirect-resources-to-ai

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/1r11imf/pinterest_keeps_tagging_my_handdrawn_art_as_ai/?ref=404media.co

Meta is [1]pivoting Horizon Worlds away from its original VR-centric metaverse vision and toward a mobile-first strategy, " [2]explicitly separating " its Quest VR platform from the virtual world. TechCrunch reports:

> By going mobile-first, Horizon Worlds is positioning itself to compete with popular platforms like Roblox and Fortnite. "We're in a strong position to deliver synchronous social games at scale, thanks to our unique ability to connect those games with billions of people on the world's biggest social networks," Samantha Ryan, Reality Labs' VP of content, said in the blog post. "You saw this strategy start to unfold in 2025, and now, it's our main focus." Ryan went on to note that Meta is still focused on VR hardware. "We have a robust roadmap of future VR headsets that will be tailored to different audience segments as the market grows and matures," Ryan wrote.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/20/meta-metaverse-leaves-vr-horizon-worlds-mobile/

[2] https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/2026-vr-state-of-the-union-horizon-mobile-focus/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg:

> Shares of cybersecurity software companies [1]tumbled Friday after Anthropic PBC [2]introduced a new security feature into its Claude AI model. Crowdstrike Holdings was the among the biggest decliners, falling as much as 6.5%, while Cloudflare slumped more than 6%. Meanwhile, Zscaler dropped 3.5%, SailPoint shed 6.8%, and Okta declined 5.7%. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF fell as much as 3.8%, extending its losses on the year to 14%.

>

> Anthropic said the new tool will "scans codebases for security vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches for human review." The firm said the update is available in a limited research preview for now.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-20/cyber-stocks-slide-as-anthropic-unveils-claude-code-security

[2] https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-code-security