ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

New Claude Model Runs 30-Hour Marathon To Create 11,000-Line Slack Clone (theverge.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:30PM (msmash) from the how-about-that dept.)

Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5 ran [1]autonomously for 30 hours to build a chat application similar to Slack or Teams , generating approximately 11,000 lines of code before stopping upon task completion. The model, announced today, marks a significant leap from the company's Opus 4 model, which ran for seven hours in May.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 performs three times better at browser navigation and computer use than Anthropic's October technology. Beta-tester Canva deployed the model for complex engineering tasks in its codebase and product features. Anthropic paired the release with virtual machines, memory, context management, and multi-agent support tools, enabling developers to build their own AI agents using the same building blocks that power Claude Code.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/787524/anthropic-releases-claude-sonnet-4-5-in-latest-bid-for-ai-agents-and-coding-supremacy



Landlords Are Demanding Tenants' Workplace Login Details To Verify Their Income (404media.co)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the not-the-onion dept.)

An anonymous reader writes:

> Landlords are using a service that logs into a potential renter's employer systems and [1]scrapes their paystubs and other information en masse , potentially in violation of U.S. hacking laws, according to screenshots of the tool shared with 404 Media.

>

> The screenshots highlight the intrusive methods some landlords use when screening potential tenants, taking information they may not need, or legally be entitled to, to assess a renter.

>

> "This is a statewide consumer-finance abuse that forces renters to surrender payroll and bank logins or face homelessness," one renter who was forced to use the tool and who saw it taking more data than was necessary for their apartment application told 404 Media. 404 Media granted the person anonymity to protect them from retaliation from their landlord or the services used.

>

> [...] "Argyle hijacked my live Workday session, stayed hidden from view, and downloaded every pay stub plus all W-4s back to 2024, each PDF seconds apart," they said. "Workday audit logs show dozens of 'Print' events from two IPs from a MAC which I do not use," they added, referring to a MAC address, a unique identifier assigned to each device on a network.



[1] https://www.404media.co/landlords-demand-tenants-workplace-logins-to-scrape-their-paystubs/



Microsoft Launches 'Vibe Working' in Excel and Word (theverge.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the adding-AI-to-everything dept.)

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> You've probably heard of vibe coding -- novices writing apps by creating a simple AI prompt -- but now Microsoft wants to introduce a similar thing for its Office apps. The software maker is launching a new Agent Mode in Excel and Word that can [1]generate complex spreadsheets and documents with just a prompt . A new Office Agent in Copilot chat, powered by Anthropic models, is also launching today that can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents from a "vibe working" chatbot.

>

> [...] Agent Mode essentially takes a complex task and breaks it down with planning and reasoning that you can follow. It then uses OpenAI's GPT-5 model to break down each step of document creation into an agentic task and execute it. It's like watching an automated macro in real time, showing everything it's doing in the sidebar.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/787076/microsoft-office-agent-mode-office-agent-anthropic-models



China Opens World's Highest Bridge, Breaking Its Own Record (nbcnews.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the setting-records dept.)

The world's highest bridge [1]opened in China on Sunday, taking the crown from another bridge in the same province. From a report:

> The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge soars about 2,050 feet above a river and gorge in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou. It is more than twice as high as the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is suspended 956 feet above the Arkansas River in Colorado and is the highest in the United States.

>

> According to Chinese state media, the new Guizhou bridge also sets a record as the world's longest bridge in a mountainous region, spanning 4,600 feet across. Hailed as China's latest "infrastructure miracle," the bridge is designed to spur tourism and economic growth in one of the country's least developed regions.



[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/china-opens-worlds-highest-bridge-guizhou-rcna234361



'No Driver, No Hands, No Clue': Waymo Pulled Over For Illegal U-turn (sfstandard.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the how-about-that dept.)

What's the proper punishment for an illegal U-turn? If you're a human being in California, it's a fine of up to $234. If you're a robot, apparently, [1]it's nothing at all . The San Francisco Standard:

> This injustice became apparent to many Facebook users Saturday night after a viral post from the San Bruno Police Department showed footage of officers pulling over a Waymo for the scofflaw maneuver only to discover that no one was behind the wheel.

>

> The car stopped automatically when it saw the police lights during a Friday evening DUI checkpoint, but instead of a person IRL, officers say they were connected with a Waymo rep over the phone. After a brief exchange, the Waymo was sent on its way. Under current law, officials explained, they couldn't issue a ticket. "Our citation books don't have a box for 'robot,'" they joked on Facebook. "Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves."



[1] https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/28/waymo-illegal-u-turn/



Saudi Takeover of EA in $55 Billion Deal Raises Serious Concerns (nerds.xyz)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the it's-in-the-game dept.)

[1]BrianFagioli writes:

> Electronic Arts has [2]agreed to a $55 billion buyout by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, marking the largest all-cash sponsor take-private deal ever. Shareholders will receive $210 per share, a 25 percent premium over EA's unaffected price, and once the transaction closes the company will be delisted from public markets. EA CEO Andrew Wilson will remain in charge, with the group arguing that private ownership will allow the publisher to innovate faster and expand its global footprint.

>

> The deal, however, is already sparking controversy. PIF, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Saudi government, will effectively gain control of one of the most influential names in gaming. While investors stand to profit, many gamers and industry watchers are concerned about how Saudi ownership could shape EA's creative direction, monetization strategies, and role in esports. With regulatory approvals still pending, the takeover raises difficult questions about the intersection of gaming, politics, and global soft power.



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

[2] https://nerds.xyz/2025/09/saudi-takeover-of-ea-in-55-billion-deal-raises-serious-concerns/



Ladybird Browser Gains Cloudflare Support to Challenge the Status Quo (linuxiac.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (EditorDavid) from the browser-building dept.)

An anonymous reader shared [1]this report from the blog Linuxiac :

> In a somewhat unexpected move, Cloudflare has announced its sponsorship of the Ladybird browser, an independent (still-in-development) open-source initiative aimed at developing a modern, standalone web browser engine.

>

> It's a project launched by GitHub's co-founder and former CEO, Chris Wanstrath, and tech visionary Andreas Kling. It's written in C++, and designed to be fast, standards-compliant, and free of external dependencies. Its main selling point? Unlike most alternative browsers today, Ladybird doesn't sit on top of Chromium or WebKit. Instead, it's building a completely new rendering engine from scratch, which is a rare thing in today's web landscape. For reference, the vast majority of web traffic currently runs through engines developed by either Google (Blink/Chromium), Apple (WebKit), or Mozilla (Gecko).

>

> The sponsorship means the Ladybird team will have more resources to accelerate development. This includes paying developers to work on crucial features, such as JavaScript support, rendering improvements, and compatibility with modern web applications. Cloudflare stated that its support is part of a broader initiative to keep the web open, where competition and multiple implementations can drive enhanced security, performance, and innovation.

The article adds that Cloudflare also chose to sponsor Omarchy, a tool that runs on Arch and sets up and configures a Hyprland tiling window manager, along with a curated set of defaults and developer tools including Neovim, Docker, and Git.



[1] https://linuxiac.com/ladybird-browser-gains-cloudflare-support-to-challenge-the-status-quo/



AI-Powered Stan Lee Hologram Debuts at LA Comic Con (arstechnica.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (EditorDavid) from the into-the-AI-verse dept.)

An anonymous reader shared [1]this report from Ars Technica :

> Late last week, The Hollywood Reporter [2]ran a story about an "AI Stan Lee hologram" that would be appearing at the [3]LA Comic Con this weekend. [ [4]Watch it in action here .] Nearly seven years after the famous Marvel Comics creator's [5]death at the age of 95 , fans will be able to pay $15 to $20 this weekend to chat with a life-sized, AI-powered avatar of Lee in an enclosed booth at the show. The instant response from many fans and media outlets to the idea was not kind, to say the least. A writer for TheGamer [6]called the very idea "demonic " and said we need to "kill it with fire before it's too late...."

>

> But Chris DeMoulin, the CEO of the parent company behind LA Comic Con, urged critics to come see the AI-powered hologram for themselves before rushing to judgment. "We're not afraid of people seeing it and we're not afraid of criticism," he told Ars. "I'm just a fan of informed criticism, and I think most of what's been out there so far has not really been informed...." [DeMoulin said he saw] "the leaps and bounds that they were making in improving the technology, improving the interactivity." Now, he said, it's possible to create an AI-powered version that ingests "all of the actual comments that people made during their life" to craft an interactive hologram that "is not literally quoting the person, but everything it was saying was based on things that person actually said...." [Hyperreal CEO and Chief Architect Remington Scott] said Hyperreal "can't share specific technical details" of the models or training techniques they use to power these recreations. But Scott added that this training project is "particularly meaningful, [because] Stan Lee had actually begun digitizing himself while he was alive, with the vision of creating a digital double so his fans could interact with him on a larger scale...."

>

> Still, DeMoulin said he understands why the idea of using even a stylized version of Lee's likeness in this manner could rub some fans the wrong way. "When a new technology comes out, it just feels wrong to them, and I respect the fact that this feels wrong to people," he said. "I totally agree that something like this-not just for Stan but for anyone, any celebrity alive or dead-could be put into this technology and used in a way that would be exploitative and unfortunate." That's why DeMoulin said he and the others behind the AI-powered Lee feel a responsibility "to make sure that if we were going to do this, we never got anywhere close to that."

The "premium, authenticated digital identities" created by Hyperreal's system are "not replacing artists," says Hyperreal CEO/Chief Architect Remington Scott, but "creating respectful digital extensions that honor their legacy."

Still, DeMoulin says in the article that "I suppose if we do it and thousands of fans interact with [it] and they don't like it, we'll stop doing it."



[1] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/why-la-comic-con-thought-making-an-ai-powered-stan-lee-hologram-was-a-good-idea/

[2] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/stan-lee-ai-hologram-l-a-comic-con-1236375354/

[3] https://www.comicconla.com/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7VIDy8rco0&t=36s

[5] https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/11/legendary-marvel-comics-creator-stan-lee-has-died/

[6] https://www.thegamer.com/stan-lee-la-comic-con-hologram-ai-evil/



Some Athletes are Trying the Psychedelic Ibogaine to Treat Brain Injuries (yahoo.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the sports-medicine dept.)

"As awareness grows around the dangers of head trauma in sports, a small number of professional fighters and football players are turning to a psychedelic called ibogaine for treatment," [1]reports the Los Angeles Times .

They note that the drug's proponents "tout its ability to treat addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, or TBI. "

> Ibogaine, which is derived from a West African shrub, is a Schedule 1 drug in America with no legal medical uses, and experts urge caution because of the need for further studies. But the results, several athletes say, are "game-changing".... Although athletes are just discovering ibogaine, the drug is [2]well known within the veteran community , which experiences high rates of brain injury and PTSD. In Stanford's [3]study on the effects of ibogaine on special forces veterans, participants saw [4]average reductions of 88% in PTSD symptoms , 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms. They also exhibited improvements in concentration, information processing and memory.

>

> "No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury," Dr. Nolan Williams, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a statement on the results. "The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further...."

>

> States can work faster than the federal government by carving out exemptions for supervised ibogaine therapy programs, similar to what [5]Oregon has done with psilocybin therapy . Many states have also opted to legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational use... In June, Texas approved a [6]historic $50-million investment in state funding to support drug development trials for ibogaine, inspired by the results seen by veterans. Arizona legislators approved $5 million in state funding for a clinical study on ibogaine in March, and California legislators are pushing to [7]fast-track the study of ibogaine and other psychedelics.



[1] https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-ufc-athletes-try-game-100000386.html

[2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes

[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02705-w

[4] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/01/ibogaine-ptsd.html

[5] https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/29/psilocybin-mushrooms-oregon-service-centers-price/

[6] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/11/texas-psychedelics-ibogaine-treatment-addiction-rick-perry-funding/

[7] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes



Professor Warns CS Graduates are Struggling to Find Jobs (yahoo.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @05:41PM (EditorDavid) from the AI-vs-CS dept.)

"Computer science went from a future-proof career to an industry in upheaval in a shockingly small amount of time," [1]writes Business Insider , citing remarks from UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid said during a [2]recent episode of Nova's "Particles of Thought" podcast .

"Our students typically had five internship offers throughout their first four years of college," Farid said. "They would graduate with exceedingly high salaries, multiple offers. They had the run of the place. That is not happening today. They're happy to get one job offer...."

> It's too easy to just blame AI, though, Farid said. "Something is happening in the industry," he said. "I think it's a confluence of many things. I think AI is part of it. I think there's a thinning of the ranks that's happening, that's part of it, but something is brewing..."

>

> Farid, one of the world's experts on deepfake videos, said he is often asked for advice. He said what he tells students has changed... "Now, I think I'm telling people to be good at a lot of different things because we don't know what the future holds."

>

> Like many in the AI space, Farid said that those who use breakthrough technologies will outlast those who don't. "I don't think AI is going to put lawyers out of business, but I think lawyers who use AI will put those who don't use AI out of business," he said. "And I think you can say that about every profession."



[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/leading-computer-science-professor-says-095502798.html

[2] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-deepfake-detective/



Culture Magazine Urges Professional Writers to Resist AI, Boycott and Stigmatize AI Slop (nplusonemag.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the AI-BS dept.)

The editors of the culture magazine n + 1 decry the " [1]well-funded upheaval" caused by a large and powerful coalition of pro-AI forces . ("According to the logic of market share as social transformation, if you move fast and break enough things, nothing can contain you...")

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

> The AI bubble — and it is a bubble, as even OpenAI overlord Sam Altman has admitted — will burst. The technology's dizzying pace of improvement, already slowing with the release of GPT-5, will stall... [P]rofessional readers and writers: We retain some power over the terms and norms of our own intellectual life. We ought to stop acting like impotence in some realms means impotence everywhere. Major terrains remain AI-proofable. For publishers, editors, critics, professors, teachers, anyone with any say over what people read, the first step will be to develop an ear. Learn to tell — to read closely enough to tell — the work of people from the work of bots...

>

> Whatever nuance is needed for its interception, resisting AI's further creep into intellectual labor will also require blunt-force militancy. The steps are simple. Don't publish AI bullshit. Don't even publish mealymouthed essays about the temptation to produce AI bullshit. Resist the call to establish worthless partnerships like the Washington Post's Ember, an "AI writing coach" designed to churn out Bezos-friendly op-eds. Instead, do what better magazines, newspapers, and journals have managed for centuries. Promote and produce original work of value, work that's cliché-resistant and unreplicable, work that tries — as Thomas Pynchon wrote in an oracular 1984 essay titled "Is It OK to Be a Luddite?" — "through literary means which are nocturnal and deal in disguise, to deny the machine ...."

>

> Punishing already overdisciplined and oversurveilled students for their AI use will help no one, but it's a long way from accepting that reality to Ohio State's new plan to mandate something called "AI fluency" for all graduates by 2029 (including workshops sponsored, naturally, by Google). Pedagogically, alternatives to acquiescence remain available. Some are old, like blue-book exams, in-class writing, or one-on-one tutoring. Some are new, like developing curricula to teach the limits and flaws of generative AI while nurturing human intelligence...

>

> Our final defenses are more diffuse, working at a level of norms and attitudes. Stigmatization is a powerful force, and disgust and shame are among our greatest tools. Put plainly, you should feel bad for using AI. (The broad embrace of the term slop is a heartening sign of a nascent constituency for machine denial.) These systems haven't worked well for very long, and consensus about their use remains far from settled. That's why so much writing about AI writing sounds the way it does — nervous, uneven, ambivalent about the new regime's utility — and it means there's still time to disenchant AI, provincialize it, make it uncompelling and uncool...

>

> As we train our sights on what we oppose, let's recall the costs of surrender. When we use generative AI, we consent to the appropriation of our intellectual property by data scrapers. We stuff the pockets of oligarchs with even more money. We abet the acceleration of a social media gyre that everyone admits is making life worse. We accept the further degradation of an already degraded educational system. We agree that we would rather deplete our natural resources than make our own art or think our own thoughts... A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a "stereotype" — a simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fake — of real literature. It should be smashed, and can.

The 3,800-word article also argues that "perhaps AI's ascent in knowledge-industry workplaces will give rise to new demands and new reasons to organize..."



[1] https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the-intellectual-situation/large-language-muddle/



Wall Street Journal Decries 'The Rise of Conspiracy Physics' (msn.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the Humpty-Dumpty-was-pushed dept.)

tThe internet is full of people claiming to uncover conspiracies in politics and business..." [1]reports the Wall Street Journal .

"Now an unlikely new villain has been added to the list: theoretical physicists," they write, saygin resentment of scientific authority figures "is the major attraction of what might be called 'conspiracy physics'."

> In recent years, a group of YouTubers and podcasters have attracted millions of viewers by proclaiming that physics is in crisis. The field, they argue, has discovered little of importance in the last 50 years, because it is dominated by groupthink and silences anyone who dares to dissent from mainstream ideas, like string theory... Most fringe theories are too arcane for listeners to understand, but anyone can grasp the idea that academic physics is just one more corrupt and self-serving establishment... In this corner of the internet, the scientist Scott Aaronson has written, "Anyone perceived as the 'mainstream establishment' faces a near-insurmountable burden of proof, while anyone perceived as 'renegade' wins by default if they identify any hole whatsoever in mainstream understanding...

>

> As with other kinds of authorities, there are reasonable criticisms to be made of academic physics. By some metrics, scientific productivity has slowed since the 1970s. String theory has not fulfilled physicists' early dreams that it would become the ultimate explanation of all forces and matter in our universe. The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, has delivered fewer breakthroughs than scientists expected when it turned on in 2010. But even reasonable points become hard to recognize when expressed in the ways YouTube incentivizes. Conspiracy physics videos with titles like "They Just Keep Lying" are full of sour sarcasm, outraged facial expressions and spooky music...

>

> Leonard Susskind, director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, says physicists need to be both more sober and more forceful when addressing the public. The limits of string theory should be acknowledged, he says, but the idea that progress has slowed isn't right. In the last few decades, he and other physicists have figured out how to make progress on the vast project of integrating general relativity and quantum mechanics, the century-old pillars of physics, into a single explanation of the universe.

The bitter attacks on leading physicists get a succinct summary in the article from Chris Williamson, a "Love Island" contestant turned podcast host. "This is like 'The Kardashians' for physicists — I love it."



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-rise-of-conspiracy-physics/ar-AA1MlQLJ



Switzerland Approves Digital ID In Narrow Vote, UK Proposes One Too (theguardian.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the ID-ideas dept.)

"Swiss voters have backed plans for electronic identity cards by a wafer-thin margin," [1]reports the Guardian , "in the second nationwide vote on the issue."

> In a referendum on Sunday, 50.4% of voters supported an electronic ID card, while 49.6% were against, confounding pollsters who had forecast stronger support for the "yes" vote. Turnout was 49.55%, higher than expected... [V]oters rejected an earlier version of the e-ID in 2021, largely over objections to the role of private companies in the system. In response to these concerns, the Swiss state will now provide the e-ID, which will be optional and free of charge... To ensure security the e-ID is linked to a single smartphone, users will have to get a new e-ID if they change their device... An ID card containing biometric data — fingerprints — will be available from the end of next year.

>

> Critics of the e-ID scheme raised data protection concerns and said it opened the door to mass surveillance. They also fear the voluntary scheme will become mandatory and disadvantage people without smartphones. The referendum was called after a coalition of rightwing and data-privacy parties collected more than 50,000 signatures against e-ID cards, triggering the vote.

"To further ease privacy concerns, a particular authority seeking information on a person — such as proof of age or nationality, for example — will only be able to check for those specific details," [2]notes the BBC :

> Supporters of the Swiss system say it will make life much easier for everyone, allowing a range of bureaucratic procedures — from getting a telephone contract to proving you are old enough to buy a bottle of wine — to happen quickly online. Opponents of digital ID cards, who gathered enough signatures to force another referendum on the issue, argue that the measure could still undermine individual privacy. They also fear that, despite the new restrictions on how data is collected and stored, it could still be used to track people and for marketing purposes.

The BBC adds that the UK government also announced plans earlier this week to introduce its own digital ID, "which would be mandatory for employment. The proposed British digital ID would have fewer intended uses than the Swiss version, but has still raised concerns about privacy and data security."

[3]The Guardian reports :

> The referendum came soon after the UK government [4]announced plans for a digital ID card , which would sit in the digital wallets of smartphones, using state-of-the-art encryption. More than [5]1.6 million people have signed a petition opposing e-ID cards , which would be mandatory for people working in the UK by 2029.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [6]schwit1 for sharing the news.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/28/swiss-voters-back-electronic-identity-cards-in-close-vote

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr624j16jpo

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/28/swiss-voters-back-electronic-identity-cards-in-close-vote

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/26/keir-starmer-digital-id-cards-enormous-opportunity-uk

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/27/petition-opposing-starmer-plan-digital-id-cards

[6] https://www.slashdot.org/~schwit1



Tim Berners-Lee Urges New Open-Source Interoperable Data Standard, Protections from AI (theguardian.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the data-decisions dept.)

Tim Berners-Lee writes in [1]a new article in the Guardian that "Somewhere between my original vision for web 1.0 and the rise of social media as part of web 2.0, we took the wrong path

> Today, I look at my invention and I am forced to ask: is the web still free today? No, not all of it. We see a handful of large platforms harvesting users' private data to share with commercial brokers or even repressive governments. We see ubiquitous algorithms that are addictive by design and damaging to our teenagers' mental health. Trading personal data for use certainly does not fit with my vision for a free web. On many platforms, we are no longer the customers, but instead have become the product. Our data, even if anonymised, is sold on to actors we never intended it to reach, who can then target us with content and advertising...

>

> We have the technical capability to give that power back to the individual. [2]Solid is an open-source interoperable standard that I and my team developed at MIT more than a decade ago. Apps running on Solid don't implicitly own your data — they have to request it from you and you choose whether to agree, or not. Rather than being in countless separate places on the internet in the hands of whomever it had been resold to, your data is in one place, controlled by you. Sharing your information in a smart way can also liberate it. Why is your smartwatch writing your biological data to one silo in one format? Why is your credit card writing your financial data to a second silo in a different format? Why are your YouTube comments, Reddit posts, Facebook updates and tweets all stored in different places? Why is the default expectation that you aren't supposed to be able to look at any of this stuff? You generate all this data — your actions, your choices, your body, your preferences, your decisions. You should own it. You should be empowered by it...

>

> We're now at a new crossroads, one where we must decide if AI will be used for the betterment or to the detriment of society. How can we learn from the mistakes of the past? First of all, we must ensure policymakers do not end up playing the same decade-long game of catchup they have done over social media. The time to decide the governance model for AI was yesterday, so we must act with urgency. In 2017, I wrote a thought experiment about an AI that works for you . I called it [3]Charlie . Charlie works for you like your doctor or your lawyer, bound by law, regulation and codes of conduct. Why can't the same frameworks be adopted for AI? We have learned from social media that power rests with the monopolies who control and harvest personal data. We can't let the same thing happen with AI.

Berners-Lee also says "we need a Cern-like not-for-profit body driving forward international AI research," arguing that if we muster the political willpower, "we have the chance to restore the web as a tool for collaboration, creativity and compassion across cultural borders.

"We can re-empower individuals, and take the web back. It's not too late."

Berners-Lee has also written [4]a new book titled This is For Everyone .



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/28/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free

[2] https://solidproject.org/

[3] https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Works.html

[4] https://thisisforeveryone.timbl.com/



Facebook and Instagram Offer UK Users an Ad-Stopping Subscription Fee (bbc.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the ad-free-fees dept.)

"Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is launching paid subscriptions for users who do not want to see adverts in the UK," [1]reports the BBC :

> The company said it would start notifying users in the coming weeks to let them choose whether to subscribe to its platforms if they wish to use them without seeing ads. EU users of its platforms can already pay a fee starting from €5.99 (£5) a month to see no ads — but subscriptions will start from £2.99 a month for UK users.

>

> "It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms," Meta said. But UK users will not have an option to not pay and see "less personalised" adverts — a feature Meta added for EU users [2]after regulators raised concerns ...

>

> Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps — with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google... [Meta] reiterated [3]its critical stance on the EU on Friday, saying its regulations were creating a worse experience for users and businesses unlike the UK's "more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment".

"Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps," according to the BBC, "with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google."

Even users not paying for an ad-free experience have "tools and settings that empower people to control their ads experience," according to [4]Meta's announcement . The include [5]Ad Preferences which influences data used to inform ads including Activity Information from Ad Partners. "We also have tools in our products that explain ' [6]Why am I seeing this ad ?' and how people can [7]manage their ad experience . We do not sell personal data to advertisers."



[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4xl5x8q7o

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clky017yl1jo

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czd3mey1ej2o

[4] https://about.fb.com/news/2025/09/facebook-and-instagram-to-offer-subscription-for-no-ads-in-the-uk/

[5] https://www.facebook.com/help/109378269482053

[6] https://about.fb.com/news/2023/02/increasing-our-ads-transparency/

[7] https://m.facebook.com/help/794535777607370/?ref=share



Will AI Mean Bring an End to Top Programming Language Rankings? (ieee.org)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @11:21AM (EditorDavid) from the vibes-all-the-way-down dept.)

IEEE Spectrum ranks the popularity of programming languages — [1]but is there a problem? Programmers "are turning away from many of these public expressions of interest. Rather than page through a book or search a website like Stack Exchange for answers to their questions, they'll chat with an LLM like Claude or ChatGPT in a private conversation."

> And with an AI assistant like Cursor helping to write code, the need to pose questions in the first place is significantly decreased. For example, across the total set of languages evaluated in [2]the Top Programming Languages , the number of questions we saw posted per week on Stack Exchange in 2025 was just 22% of what it was in 2024...

>

> However, an even more fundamental problem is looming in the wings... In the same way most developers today don't pay much attention to the instruction sets and other hardware idiosyncrasies of the CPUs that their code runs on, which language a program is vibe coded in ultimately becomes a minor detail... [T]he popularity of different computer languages could become as obscure a topic as the relative popularity of railway track gauges... But if an AI is soothing our irritations with today's languages, will any new ones ever reach the kind of critical mass needed to make an impact? Will the popularity of today's languages remain frozen in time?

That's ultimately the larger question. "how much abstraction and anti-foot-shooting structure will a sufficiently-advanced coding AI really need...?"

> [C]ould we get our AIs to go straight from prompt to an [3]intermediate language that could be fed into the interpreter or compiler of our choice? Do we need high-level languages at all in that future? True, this would turn programs into inscrutable black boxes, but they could still be divided into modular testable units for sanity and quality checks. And instead of trying to read or maintain source code, programmers would just tweak their prompts and generate software afresh.

>

> What's the role of the programmer in a future without source code? Architecture design and algorithm selection would remain vital skills... How should a piece of software be interfaced with a larger system? How should new hardware be exploited? In this scenario, computer science degrees, with their emphasis on fundamentals over the details of programming languages, rise in value over coding boot camps.

>

> Will there be a Top Programming Language in 2026? Right now, programming is going through the biggest transformation since compilers broke onto the scene in the early 1950s. Even if the predictions that much of [4]AI is a bubble about to burst come true, the thing about tech bubbles is that there's always some residual technology that survives. It's likely that using LLMs to write and assist with code is something that's going to stick. So we're going to be spending the next 12 months figuring out what popularity means in this new age, and what metrics might be useful to measure.

Having said that, IEEE Spectrum still ranks programming language popularity three ways — based on use among working programmers, demand from employers, and "trending" in the zeitgeist — using [5]seven different metrics .

Their results? Among programmers, "we see that once again Python has the top spot, with the biggest change in the top five being JavaScript's drop from third place last year to sixth place this year. As JavaScript is often used to create web pages, and vibe coding is often used to create websites, this drop in the apparent popularity may be due to the effects of AI... In the 'Jobs' ranking, which looks exclusively at what skills employers are looking for, we see that Python has also taken 1st place, up from second place last year, though SQL expertise remains an incredibly valuable skill to have on your resume."



[1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2025

[2] https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2024

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_representation

[4] https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-index-2025

[5] https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-methodology-2025



California Now Has 68% More EV Chargers Than Gas Nozzles, Continues Green Energy Push (electrek.co)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @03:44AM (EditorDavid) from the golden-states dept.)

[1]Six months ago California had 48% more public and "shared" private EV chargers than gasoline nozzles. (In March California had 178,000 public and shared private EV chargers, versus about 120,000 gas nozzles.)

Since then they've added 23,000 more public/shared charging ports — and [2]announced this week that there's now 68% more EV charger ports than the number of gasoline nozzles statewide. "Thanks to the state's ever-expanding charger network, 94% of Californians live within 10 minutes of an EV charger," according to the announcement from the state's energy policy agency. And the California Energy Commission staff [3]told CleanTechnica they expect more chargers in the future . "We are watching increased private investment by consortiums like IONNA and OEMs like Rivian, Ford, and others that are actively installing EV charging stations throughout the state."

Clean Technica notes in 2019, the state had roughly 42,000 charging ports and now there are a little over 200,000. (And today there's about 800,000 home EV chargers.)

This week California announced another milestone: that in 2024 nearly 23% of all the state's new truck sales — that's trucks, buses, and vans — [4]were zero-emission vehicles . (The state subsidizes electric trucks — $200 million was requested on the program's first day.)

> Greenhouse gas emissions in California are [5]down 20% since 2000 — even as the state's GDP increased 78% in that same time period all while becoming the world's fourth largest economy.

>

> The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by [6]two-thirds clean energy in 2023 , the latest year for which data is available — the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year.

"Last year, California ran on 100% clean electricity for the [7]equivalent of 51 days ," notes [8]another announcement , which points out California has [9]15,763 MW of battery storage capacity — roughly a third of the amount projected to be needed by 2045.



[1] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/03/31/0335254/california-has-48-more-ev-chargers-than-gas-nozzles

[2] https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2025-09/california-exceeds-200000-electric-vehicle-chargers

[3] https://electrek.co/2025/09/26/california-now-has-68-more-ev-charger-ports-than-gas-nozzles/

[4] https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/09/23/nearly-1-in-4-new-trucks-buses-and-vans-in-california-go-zero-emission-2-years-ahead-of-schedule/

[5] https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/09/20/california-continues-streak-of-slashing-climate-pollution-while-growing-economy/

[6] https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/07/14/in-historic-first-california-powered-by-two-thirds-clean-energy-becoming-largest-economy-in-the-world-to-achieve-milestone/

[7] https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/clean-energy-serving-california/estimated-california-iso-clean-energy-days

[8] https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/19/since-governor-newsom-took-office-californias-battery-storage-has-increased-1944-and-just-achieved-a-major-milestone/

[9] https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/california-energy-storage-system-survey



Should Salesforce's Tableau Be Granted a Patent On 'Visualizing Hierarchical Data'?

(Monday September 29, 2025 @03:44AM (EditorDavid) from the diagramming-data dept.)

Long-time Slashdot reader [1]theodp says America's Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to Tableau (Salesforce's visual analytics platform) — for a patent covering "Data Processing For Visualizing Hierarchical Data":

> "A provided data model may include a tree specification that declares parent-child relationships between objects in the data model. In response to a query associated with objects in the data model: employing the parent-child relationships to determine a tree that includes parent objects and child objects from the objects based on the parent-child relationships; determining a root object based on the query and the tree; traversing the tree from the root object to visit the child objects in the tree; determining partial results based on characteristics of the visited child objects such that the partial results are stored in an intermediate table; and providing a response to the query that includes values based on the intermediate table and the partial results."

>

> A set of 15 simple drawings is provided to support the legal and tech gobbledygook of the invention claims. A person can have a manager, Tableau explains in [2]Figures 5-6 of its accompanying drawings, and that manager can also manage and be managed by other people. Not only that, Tableau illustrates in [3]Figures 7-10 that computers can be used to count how many people report to a manager. How does this magic work, you ask? Well, you "generate [a] tree" [Fig. 13] and "traverse a tree" [Fig. 15], Tableau explains. But wait, there's more — you can also display the people who report to a manager in multi-level or nested pie charts (aka Sunburst charts), Tableau demonstrates in [4]Fig. 11 .

>

> Interestingly, Tableau [5]released a "pre-Beta" Sunburst chart type in late April 2023 but yanked it at the end of June 2023 (others have long-supported Sunburst charts, [6]including Plotly ). So, do you think Tableau should be awarded a patent in 2025 on a concept that has roots in [7]circa-1921 Sunburst charts and tree algorithms taught to first-year CS students in [8]circa-1975 Data Structures courses?



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

[2] https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54815194682_dff632e444_b.jpg

[3] https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54815194677_36f188e76f_b.jpg

[4] https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54816044856_1fb263212f_b.jpg

[5] https://www.tableau.com/blog/exploring-sankey-and-radial-charts-new-chart-types-pilot-tableau-public

[6] https://plotly.com/python/sunburst-charts/

[7] https://think.design/services/data-visualization-data-design/sunburst/

[8] https://archive.org/details/computerdatastru00pfal/mode/2up



Firefox Will Offer Visual Searching on Images With AI-Powered Google Lens (webpronews.com)

(Monday September 29, 2025 @03:44AM (EditorDavid) from the seeing-and-searching dept.)

"We've decided to support image-based search," [1]announced the product manager for Firefox Search . Powered by the [2]AI-driven Google Lens search technology , they promise the new feature offers "a frictionless, fast, and a curiosity-sparking way to (as Google puts it) 'search what you see'."

> With just a right-click on any image, you'll be able to:

>

> - Find similar products, places, or objects

> - Copy, translate, or search text from images

> - Get inspiration for learning, travel, or shopping

>

> Look for the new "Search Image with Google Lens" option in your right-click menu (tagged with a NEW badge at first). This is a desktop-only feature, and it will start gradually rolling out worldwide. Note: Google must be set as your default search engine for this feature to appear.

>

> We'll be listening closely to your feedback as we roll it out. Some of the things we're wondering about:

>

> Does the placement in the context menu align with your expectations?

> Would you prefer the option to choose your visual search provider?

> Where else would you like entry points to visual search (e.g. when you open a new tab, in the address bar, on mobile devices, etc.)

>

> We can't wait to hear your thoughts as the rollout begins!

Some [3]thoughts from WebProNews :

> Mozilla emphasizes that this is an opt-in feature, giving users control over activation, which aligns with the company's longstanding commitment to privacy and user agency.

>

> Yet, for industry observers, this partnership with Google raises intriguing questions about competitive dynamics in the browser space, where Firefox has historically positioned itself as an independent alternative to Chrome... This move comes at a time when browsers are increasingly becoming platforms for AI-driven enhancements, as evidenced by recent updates in competitors like Microsoft's Edge, which integrates Copilot AI. Mozilla's decision to leverage Google Lens rather than developing an in-house solution could be seen as a pragmatic step to accelerate feature parity, especially given Firefox's smaller market share. Insiders note that by tapping into established technologies, Mozilla can focus resources on core strengths like privacy protections, potentially attracting users disillusioned with data-heavy ecosystems... While mobile users might feel left out, the phased rollout over the next few weeks allows for feedback loops through community channels, a hallmark of Mozilla's open-source ethos.

>

> Data from similar integrations in other browsers suggests visual search can boost engagement by 15-20%, per industry reports, though Mozilla has not disclosed specific metrics yet... Looking ahead, Mozilla's strategy appears geared toward incremental innovations that bolster user retention without alienating its privacy-focused base. If successful, this could help Firefox claw back some ground against Chrome's dominance, estimated at over 60% market share. For now, the feature's gradual deployment invites ongoing dialogue, underscoring Mozilla's community-driven model in an industry often criticized for top-down decisions.



[1] https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/new-in-firefox-desktop-only-visual-search/m-p/106216

[2] https://www.engadget.com/2017-05-17-google-lens-brings-ai-understanding-to-assistant-and-photos.html

[3] https://www.webpronews.com/mozilla-integrates-google-lens-for-visual-search-in-firefox-desktop/



When This EV Company Went Bankrupt, Its Customers Launched a Nonprofit to Keep Their Cars Running (theverge.com)

(Sunday September 28, 2025 @11:05PM (EditorDavid) from the drive-to-succeed dept.)

Cristian Fleming paid around $70,000 for one of Fisker Ocean's electric mid-size crossover SUVs. Seven months later the company filed for bankruptcy in June of 2024, [1]reports the Verge , "having only delivered 11,000 vehicles."

"Early adopters were left with cars plagued by battery failures, glitchy software, inconsistent key fobs, and door handles that did not always open. With the company gone, there was no way to fix any issues."

> Regulators logged dozens of complaints as replacement parts vanished. Passionate owners who spent top dollar on high-end trims saw their cars reduced to expensive driveway ornaments.

>

> Rather than accept defeat, thousands of Ocean owners have organized into their own makeshift car company. [2]The Fisker Owners Association (FOA) is a nonprofit that's launched third-party apps, built a global parts supply chain, and came together around a future for their orphaned vehicles. It's part car club, part tech startup, part survival mission. Fleming now serves as the organization's president... FOA calls itself the first entirely owner-controlled EV fleet in history. So far, 4,055 Ocean owners have signed up, paying $550 a year in dues that the group estimates will raise around $3 million annually, about 0.1 percent of Fisker's peak valuation. Only verified Ocean owners can become full members, but anyone can donate.

>

> The grassroots effort has precedent — DeLorean diehards and Saab enthusiasts have kept their favorite brands alive after factory closures. But those efforts focused on preserving aging vehicles. FOA is attempting something different: real-time software updates and hardware improvements for a connected, two-year-old EV fleet... The organization has spawned three separate companies. Tsunami Automotive handles parts in North America while Tidal Wave covers Europe, scavenging insurance auctions and contracting with tooling manufacturers to reproduce components. UnderCurrent Automotive, run by former Google and Apple engineers, focuses on software solutions.

>

> UnderCurrent's first product is OceanLink Pro, a third-party mobile app now used by over 1,200 members that restores basic EV features, such as remote battery monitoring and climate control. A companion device called OceanLink Pulse adds wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, with plans for future upgrades including keyless entry. "Those are things you would have expected to be in a $70,000 luxury car," says Clint Bagley [FOA's treasurer]. "But, you know, we're happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn't."



[1] https://www.theverge.com/transportation/785872/fisker-ocean-ownership-association-software-recall

[2] https://fiskeroa.com/



More

Tactical? TACTICAL!?!? Hey, buddy, we went from kilotons to megatons
several minutes ago. We don't need no stinkin' tactical nukes.
(By the way, do you have change for 10 million people?) --lwall