American airlines have transformed into financial services companies that happen to fly planes as [1]loyalty programs now constitute their primary profit engine rather than passenger transport. Delta, American, Southwest, and United all operated their passenger services at a loss in 2024 while generating $14 billion in combined operating profits from credit card partnerships.

Delta received $2.1 billion from American Express in Q2 2025 -- exactly matching its total operating profit -- while the airline's passenger operations alone would have posted a loss. These loyalty programs command valuations in the tens of billions, sometimes exceeding the airlines' total equity value, with Delta reporting 1% of U.S. GDP flows through its co-branded cards. Customers can now reach American Airlines' top loyalty tier without boarding a single flight.



[1] https://www.economist.com/business/2025/08/06/how-loyalty-programmes-are-keeping-americas-airlines-aloft

Intel's chief executive Lip-Bu Tan has [1]hit out at "misinformation" over his career after U.S. President Donald Trump alleged the semiconductor industry veteran was [2]"highly conflicted" and should resign . From a report:

> In [3]a letter to Intel staff published late on Thursday , Tan said that Intel was "engaging" with the Trump administration "to address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts."

>

> "There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about my past roles...I want to be absolutely clear: Over 40+ years in the industry, I've built relationships around the world and across our diverse ecosystem -- and I have always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards," Tan wrote.

>

> Tan's move to reassure staff at Intel, the only US-headquartered company capable of manufacturing advanced chips, came hours after Trump had demanded his resignation in a post on Truth Social. Trump did not detail Tan's alleged conflicts of interest but the U.S. president's broadside followed a letter from Tom Cotton, the Republican head of the Senate intelligence committee, to Intel's chair expressing "concern about the security and integrity of Intel's operations" and Tan's ties to China.



[1] https://www.ft.com/content/42b32597-97f7-4f12-b9bf-5ea4da2a483b

[2] https://slashdot.org/story/25/08/07/1427230/us-president-calls-on-intel-ceo-to-resign-over-china-ties

[3] https://newsroom.intel.com/corporate/my-commitment-to-you-and-our-company

[1]alternative_right quotes a report from The Register:

> Space fans looking to camp out in style have a chance to pick up an Airstream trailer that once served as the Convoy Command Vehicle for NASA's Space Shuttle operations at Edwards Air Force Base -- [2]if they have a couple hundred thousand to spare, that is . "This is the NASA 025 Command Vehicle," current owner Jonathan Kitzen says of the once-silver, now paint-daubed and otherwise unassuming Airstream trailer. "NASA 025 was designed to land crewed missions at Edwards Air Force Base. [Airstream] informed me that this was, in their, words, 'the only NASA Airstream ever sold,' and the others [001-024] were all crushed or in museums. The sister crew vehicle (a 28-ft with one rear axle) is sitting at Kennedy museum [the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex]. All the rest are gone, except for this one."

>

> Kitzen picked up the vehicle in 2022 up after spotting it on a government surplus auction site, where it had been listed with few details and at a very low starting price. As for how the rare vehicle ended up for sale in the first place, Kitzen says he was told it was a mistake. "Apparently there was some miscommunication when the vehicle was decommissioned," he claims in the sale listing. "It should have been offered to museums but the sales team did not know what it was. They were told it was just a 'NASA vehicle,' they did not know it had any special status or history. To the sellers they thought it was just a van that could have been for moving laundry around the base. It was an accidental (yet valid) sale.

>

> "When I pulled up to Vandenberg Air Force Base after getting my NASA contractor badge I was greeted by the senior asset manager," Kitzen continues. "'We didn't know what we were selling!' were the first words out of her mouth. 'We didn't advertise it or offer it up to museums, the phone has exploded. Nobody told us what it was!'" [...] The [3]listing on vehicle sale site Hemmings.com has an asking price of $199,000, though with no offers yet submitted. A [4]listing on eBay with a $50,000 minimum bid and $290,000 buy-it-now price ended in May with no takers.



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

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/06/nasa_airstream_trailer/

[3] https://www.hemmings.com/listing/1990-airstream-all-models-478166

[4] https://www.ebay.com/itm/286574626675

Ancient Slashdot reader [1]Epeeist shares a report from The Guardian:

> The newest version of the maglev train is capable of traveling at 600km/h (about 370mph). However, the train's engineers have wrestled with the problem of the shock waves which occur as the train exits the mouth of a tunnel. When a high-speed train enters an enclosed space such as a tunnel, air in front is compressed, like in a piston. The resulting fluctuations in air pressure coalesce at the tunnel mouth, generating low-frequency shock waves. These are colloquially known as a " [2]tunnel boom " -- a related, albeit different phenomenon to the "sonic boom" heard as aircraft pass the speed of sound. Tunnel booms pose serious challenges to operational safety, as the shock waves can disturb humans and animals nearby, as well as causing structural damage.

>

> Now, however, researchers have discovered that placing innovative soundproofing buffers at tunnel mouths [3]can reduce shock waves by up to 96% . This promises improvements in operational safety, noise pollution and passenger comfort, as well as safeguarding animals in the vicinity of future lines. [...] The porous structure of the new 100-meter long buffers, combined with porous coatings on the tunnel body, allow the trapped air to escape before the train reaches the tunnel mouth, suppressing the boom in the same way as a silencer fitted to a firearm.



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

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piston_effect#Tunnel_boom

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/07/maglev-train-researchers-may-have-solved-tunnel-boom-shock-waves

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media:

> Some of the first reviews ever written for the original Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. have been [1]digitized and published by the Video Game History Foundation . The reviews appeared in [2]Computer Entertainer , an early video game magazine that ran from 1982 to 1990. The archivists at the Foundation tracked down the [3]magazine's entire run and have [4]published it all online under a Creative Commons license.



[1] https://www.404media.co/computer-entertainer-magazine-archived-online-video-game-history-foundation/

[2] https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/519c0dbd-0f5d-45fe-83c2-355a756391a9?sortField=date&sortDir=asc&ref=404media.co

[3] https://gamehistory.org/computerentertainer/?ref=404media.co

[4] https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/519c0dbd-0f5d-45fe-83c2-355a756391a9?sortField=date&sortDir=asc&ref=404media.co

Duolingo's [1]decision to go "AI-first" [2]sparked [3]backlash from users, but the company's [4]second quarter earnings result tell a different story. Quarterly revenue exceeded expectations, stock surged nearly 30%, and [5]daily active users grew 40% year-over-year . TechCrunch reports:

> Now the company anticipates making over $1 billion in revenue this year, and daily active users have grown 40% year-over-year. The growth is significant but falls in the lower range of the company's estimates of growing between 40% and 45%, which an investor brought up to [CEO Luis von Ahn] on Wednesday's quarterly earnings call.

>

> "The reason we came [in] towards the lower end was because I said some stuff about AI, and I didn't give enough context. Because of that, we got some backlash on social media," von Ahn said. "The most important thing is we wanted to make the sentiment on our social media positive. We stopped posting edgy posts and started posting things that would get our sentiment more positive. That has worked."



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/29/0049233/duolingo-will-replace-contract-workers-with-ai

[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/25/0347239/duolingo-faces-massive-social-media-backlash-after-ai-first-comments

[3] https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/06/08/185209/after-ai-first-promise-duolingo-ceo-admits-i-did-not-expect-the-blowback

[4] https://investors.duolingo.com/static-files/0b55110c-2eb9-466d-8549-5459e0851290

[5] https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/07/the-backlash-against-duolingo-going-ai-first-didnt-even-matter/

Despite [1]dwindling global market share, retreat from key regions [2]like Europe , and [3]halting in-house production, Sony insists its Xperia smartphone line [4]remains "very important" to its business . 9to5Google reports:

> During Sony's latest financial results presentation this week, Sony CFO Lin Tao addressed the state of its Xperia smartphone brand, saying that Xperia is part of "a very important business for us" as reported by [5]CNET Japan (translated). Tao said that "communication technology is a very important technology that Sony has cultivated for a long time. We also want to continue to value our smartphone business." Though adding that "communication technology is used in areas other than smartphones."



[1] https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile

[2] https://www.gsmarena.com/is_sony_pulling_its_smartphone_business_away_from_europe-news-68612.php

[3] https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-reportedly-doesnt-make-its-own-xperia-phones-anymore

[4] https://9to5google.com/2025/08/07/sony-xperia-very-important-cfo-comments/

[5] https://japan.cnet.com/article/35236485/

Amazon Web Services has struck a deal with the U.S. government to [1]provide up to $1 billion in cloud service discounts through 2028 . CNBC reports:

> The agreement is expected to speed up migration to the cloud, as well as adoption of artificial intelligence tools, the General Services Administration said. "AWS's partnership with GSA demonstrates a shared public-private commitment to enhancing America's AI leadership," the agency said in a release.

>

> Amazon's cloud boss, Matt Garman, hailed the agreement as a "significant milestone in the large-scale digital transformation of government services." The discounts aggregated across federal agencies include credits to use AWS' cloud infrastructure, modernization programs and training services, as well as incentives for "direct partnership."

Further reading: [2]OpenAI Offers ChatGPT To US Federal Agencies for $1 a Year



[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/07/amazon-aws-federal-discounts.html

[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/08/06/1433258/openai-offers-chatgpt-to-us-federal-agencies-for-1-a-year

[1]alternative_right shares an interview from The Register with David W. Hill, who served as lead designer for ThinkPad from 1995 to 2017. Here are some excerpts from the wide-ranging interview:

> Hill revealed that he tried several times to introduce additional laptops that had the famous "butterfly keyboard" found on the ThinkPad 701C. [...] Hill told The Register that he had [2]wanted to make more ThinkPads with butterfly keyboards and had tried at least three times to make it happen -- in one case there was a prototype where only half of the keyboard moved -- but was never able to get there. Eventually, screens became big enough that there was no need to have a keyboard that expanded. However, Hill said, he thought about putting a butterfly keyboard on a netbook when they were a viable product category in the late aughts. [...]

>

> One of the features Hill is most proud of developing is the ThinkLight, an overhead light located above the screen that lit up the entire keyboard and deck. Though the advent of keyboard backlights has made the ThinkLight redundant -- Lenovo discontinued it in 2013 -- it offers capabilities that backlights do not. If you want to place a paper on top of your keyboard, the LED will light it up, allowing you to see more than just your key legends. ... When designing the 25th anniversary ThinkPad, which came out in 2017, Hill brought back the ThinkLight, but he actually wanted to have -- for the first time -- two LEDs instead of one. The dual lights would have eliminated shadows and provided even better illumination, but unfortunately, this effort proved too costly to make it into the final product. [...]

>

> When I asked Hill about products he wanted to come out with but never got to, he talked about an idea for portable workstations that would fold up like a laptop but have a separate keyboard and screen like a desktop when you put them on your desk. He collaborated with butterfly keyboard creator John Karidis on this concept, but couldn't make it ready for market. "We did a lot of experimentation with laptops that sort of unfolded to be more like a desktop: things where the display elevated or the keyboard would remove so you could use them like a workstation, rather than just being a clamshell with a hinge, you open and close," Hill recalled. "We did a lot of experimentation with that and got close a few times, but never could completely sell it. I always thought it was an opportunity to create a new category."



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

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/02/thinkpad_david_hill_interview/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired:

> Two years ago, researchers in the Netherlands [1]discovered an intentional backdoor in an encryption algorithm baked into radios used by critical infrastructure -- as well as police, intelligence agencies, and military forces around the world -- that made any communication secured with the algorithm vulnerable to eavesdropping. When the researchers publicly disclosed the issue in 2023, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which developed the algorithm, advised anyone using it for sensitive communication to deploy an end-to-end encryption solution on top of the flawed algorithm to bolster the security of their communications. But now the same researchers have found that at least one implementation of the end-to-end encryption solution endorsed by ETSI [2]has a similar issue that makes it equally vulnerable to eavesdropping . The encryption algorithm used for the device they examined starts with a 128-bit key, but this gets compressed to 56 bits before it encrypts traffic, making it easier to crack. It's not clear who is using this implementation of the end-to-end encryption algorithm, nor if anyone using devices with the end-to-end encryption is aware of the security vulnerability in them.

Wired notes that the end-to-end encryption the researchers examined is most commonly used by law enforcement and national security teams. "But ETSI's endorsement of the algorithm two years ago to mitigate flaws found in its lower-level encryption algorithm suggests it may be used more widely now than at the time."



[1] https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/07/24/1942216/researchers-find-backdoor-in-encrypted-police-and-military-radios

[2] https://www.wired.com/story/encryption-made-for-police-and-military-radios-may-be-easily-cracked-researchers-find/

Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to crack down on HBO Max password sharing by the end of 2025, with " [1]aggressive" enforcement and messaging starting next month . Deadline reports:

> JB Perrette, head of streaming and gaming at Warner Bros. Discovery said on the company's second-quarter earnings call that messaging to consumers is about to get more "aggressive." The media company looking to close the loopholes by the end of 2025, with the impact starting to appear in its financials by 2026. Several months of testing has enabled WBD to determine "who's a legitimate user who may not be a legitimate user," Perrette said. Once that is determined, he continued, the next step is to "turn on the more aggressive language around what needs to happen" in order to and make sure that "we are putting the net in the right place, so to speak."

>

> Asked about what "inning" the process is in, to use the baseball cliche, Perrette said only the first. By the fourth quarter, he said, the process will be happening "in a much more aggressive fashion." "The message language right now has been a fairly soft, cancel-able message," he said. It will "start to get more fixed and such that people have to take action as opposed to right now, sort of having to be a voluntary process." Once those directives are established, he said, "the real benefit will start probably in the fourth quarter and then kick in in 2026."



[1] https://deadline.com/2025/08/hbo-max-password-sharing-crackdown-warner-bros-discovery-1236481075/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet:

> In an interview, [1]Lansweeper , an IT asset discovery and inventory company, revealed to ZDNET that, in [2]its analysis of over 15 million identified consumer desktop operating systems, it found that Linux desktops [3]currently account for just over 6% of PC market share . This news comes after several other studies have shown the Linux desktop is right around the 6% mark. Indeed, according to the [4]US Federal Government Website and App Analytics count, the Linux desktop market share over the last 90 days has reached 6.3%, a new high. In July, according to StatCounter, the Linux desktop also set a record high by its metrics [5]with 5.24% .



[1] https://www.lansweeper.com/

[2] https://www.lansweeper.com/resources/lansweeper-scanning-guide/

[3] https://www.zdnet.com/article/think-linux-desktop-market-share-isnt-over-6-this-15-million-system-scan-says-otherwise/

[4] https://analytics.usa.gov/

[5] https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2048246/linux-reaches-5-on-desktop

President Trump is set to sign an executive order [1]opening up 401(k) retirements plans to alternative assets , like private equity, real estate, and cryptocurrency. The move has the potential to unlock trillions in new investment for asset managers outside of stocks, bonds, and cash, "though critics say it also could bring too much risk into retirement investments," reports Reuters. From the report:

> "The order directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate access to alternative assets for participant-directed defined-contribution retirement savings plans by revising applicable regulations and guidance," the White House official said on condition of anonymity. The order directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal "regulators to determine whether parallel regulatory changes should be made at those agencies," the official said. [...]

>

> The new investment options carry lower disclosure requirements and are generally less easy to sell quickly for cash than the publicly traded stocks and bonds that most retirement funds rely on. Investing in them also tends to carry higher fees. In defined contribution plans, employees make contributions to their own retirement account, frequently with a matching contribution from their employer. The invested funds belong to the employee, but unlike a defined benefit pension plan, there is no guaranteed regular payout upon retirement.

>

> Many private equity firms are hungry for the new source of cash that retail investors could offer after three years in which high interest rates shook their time-honored model of buying companies and selling them at a profit. Whatever results may come from Trump's order, it likely will not happen overnight, private equity executives say. Plaintiffs' lawyers are already preparing for lawsuits that could be filed by investors who do not understand the complexity of the new forms of investments.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/trump-sign-order-opening-way-alternative-assets-401ks-official-says-2025-08-07/

Microsoft's [1]$30 Extended Security Updates license for Windows 10 will [2]cover up to 10 devices under a single Microsoft Account , the company confirmed in updated support documentation. The ESU program, which provides security updates through October 13, 2026, requires a Microsoft Account for all three enrollment options: the $30 one-time purchase, redemption of 1,000 Microsoft Reward points, or free enrollment for users who sync their PC settings to OneDrive. Windows 10's support ends October 14, 2025.



[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/31/2011223/want-to-keep-getting-windows-10-updates-itll-cost-you-30

[2] https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-10/microsoft-just-made-windows-10s-usd30-extended-support-program-an-even-better-deal-but-you-now-need-a-microsoft-account-to-pay-for-it

Google has [1]quietly admitted defeat in selling advertising for its smart TV platform, returning ad inventory to publishers and accepting a revenue share instead of controlling ad spots directly, according to The Verge. The policy reversal comes as Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on Google TV without breaking even, while Amazon outspends the company on retail incentives that have already pushed Google TV sets out of Costco stores in favor of Fire TV models.

Amazon pays up to $50 per activated television to retailers and manufacturers, The Verge reported. Google TV has grown to 270 million monthly active devices worldwide since unifying Android TV and Chromecast under a single brand in 2020, but many devices operate in overseas markets that generate little revenue or run customized versions controlled by pay-TV operators. YouTube's success in the living room -- generating $9.8 billion in quarterly ad revenue and accounting for 12.5% of all US television viewing -- has reduced internal support for Google TV, with sales teams prioritizing the video platform and some YouTube executives arguing the smart TV budget should be redirected, the report adds.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/lowpass-newsletter/724970/google-tv-ads-monetization-problem

OpenAI [1]released GPT-5 on Thursday, ending a two-year development cycle that CEO Sam Altman called a "significant leap in intelligence" over previous models. The updated AI system achieved state-of-the-art performance across multiple benchmarks, scoring 94.6% on AIME 2025 mathematics problems and 74.9% on SWE-bench Verified coding tasks.

The model operates as a unified system combining a standard response mode with deeper reasoning capabilities that activate automatically based on query complexity. OpenAI reduced hallucinations by approximately 45% compared to GPT-4o and 80% compared to its previous reasoning model when using extended thinking modes. GPT-5 becomes available immediately to all ChatGPT users at no cost, with paid subscribers receiving higher usage limits and access to GPT-5 pro for more complex reasoning tasks.



[1] https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-5/

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> OpenAI is paying bonuses to around 1,000 employees on its technical research and engineering teams, or about a third of the company, [1]ranging from the low hundreds of thousands to millions , as the company gears up to release its latest flagship GPT-5 model and faces an ever-rising battle for AI talent, according to a person with knowledge of the bonuses.



[1] https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-pays-bonuses-ranging-millions-dollars-1-000-researchers-engineers

[1]schwit1 shares a report:

> China's biggest solar firms [2]shed nearly one-third of their workforces last year , company filings show, as one of the industries hand-picked by Beijing to drive economic growth grapples with falling prices and steep losses. The job cuts illustrate the pain from the vicious price wars being fought across Chinese industries, including solar and electric vehicles, as they grapple with overcapacity and tepid demand. The world produces twice as many solar panels each year as it uses, with most of them manufactured in China.

>

> Longi Green Energy, Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, JA Solar, and Tongwei, collectively shed some 87,000 staff, or 31% of their workforces on average last year, according to a Reuters review of employment figures in public filings.



[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1

[2] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinas-solar-industry-quietly-fired-third-its-workers

Digital Foundry, the gaming hardware analysis publication known for its technical console breakdowns, has [1]separated from IGN ownership as of today , with founder Richard Leadbetter purchasing the outlet and its complete archives. Leadbetter, who retained 50% ownership since selling half to Eurogamer in 2015, acquired an additional 25 percent from IGN while investor Rupert Loman, Eurogamer's original co-founder, purchased the remaining quarter.

The five-person team will operate independently, maintaining its YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers and Patreon support generating approximately $200,000 annually. The publication plans to develop a full website for its written content and expand coverage while keeping most content free.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/games/743535/digital-foundry-game-console-analysis-going-independent

President Trump on Thursday [1]called on Intel's CEO to resign because of his past ties to China, the latest challenge for the troubled chip maker. From a report:

> "The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Thursday. The president appeared to be referencing Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's past business dealings in China, which Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) called out in a letter to the company's board earlier this week.

>

> On Tuesday, Cotton wrote an open letter to Intel's board questioning Tan's ties to the Chinese government, including apparent connections to the country's military and investments in other semiconductor companies. "The new CEO of @intel reportedly has deep ties to the Chinese Communists," Cotton wrote in a post on X accompanying the letter. "U.S. companies who receive government grants should be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars and adhere to strict security regulations. The board of @Intel owes Congress an explanation."



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/trump-calls-on-intel-ceo-to-resign-over-china-ties/ar-AA1K5t7A