An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters:

> Intel's new chief executive is exploring a big change to its contract manufacturing business to win major customers, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a potentially expensive shift from his predecessor's plans. The new strategy for Intel's foundry business would mean [1]offering outside customers a newer generation of technology , the people said. That next-generation chipmaking process, analysts believe, will be more competitive against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in trying to land major customers such as Apple or Nvidia.

>

> Since taking the company's helm [2]in March , CEO Lip-Bu Tan has [3]moved fast to [4]cut costs and find a new path to revive the ailing U.S. chipmaker. By June, he started voicing that a manufacturing process known as 18A, in which prior CEO Pat Gelsinger had invested heavily, was losing its appeal to new customers, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. To put aside external sales of 18A and its variant 18A-P, manufacturing processes that have cost Intel billions of dollars to develop, the company would have to take a write-off, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Industry analysts contacted by Reuters said such a charge could amount to a loss of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.

>

> Intel declined to comment on such "hypothetical scenarios or market speculation." It said the lead customer for 18A has long been Intel itself, and it aims to ramp production of its "Panther Lake" laptop chips later in 2025, which it called the most advanced processors ever designed and manufactured in the United States. Persuading outside clients to use Intel's factories remains key to its future. As its 18A fabrication process faced delays, rival TSMC's N2 technology has been on track for production. Tan's preliminary answer to this challenge: focus more resources on 14A, a next-generation chipmaking process where Intel expects to have advantages over Taiwan's TSMC, the two sources said. The move is part of a play for big customers like Apple and Nvidia, which currently pay TSMC to manufacture their chips.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/intels-new-ceo-explores-big-shift-chip-manufacturing-business-2025-07-02/

[2] https://slashdot.org/story/25/03/12/2118219/intel-appoints-lip-bu-tan-as-ceo

[3] https://slashdot.org/story/25/04/01/0036239/intel-ceo-lip-bu-tan-says-company-will-spin-off-non-core-units

[4] https://slashdot.org/story/25/06/16/2132227/intel-will-lay-off-15-to-20-of-its-factory-workers-memo-says

Two accessory manufacturers have told The Verge that Nintendo has [1]intentionally locked down the Switch 2's USB-C port using a new encryption scheme, preventing compatibility with third-party docks and accessories. "I haven't yet found proof of that encryption chip myself -- but when I analyzed the USB-C PD traffic with a [2]Power-Z tester , I could clearly see the new Nintendo Switch not behaving like a good USB citizen should," writes The Verge's Sean Hollister. From the report:

> If you've been wondering why there are basically no portable Switch 2 docks on the market, this is the reason. Even Jsaux, the company that built its reputation by beating the Steam Deck dock to market, tells us it's paused its plans to build a Switch 2 dock because of Nintendo's actions. It's not simply because the Switch 2 now requires more voltage, as was previously reported; it's that Nintendo has made things even more difficult this generation.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/report/695915/switch-2-usb-c-third-party-docks-dont-work-authentication-encryption

[2] https://www.amazon.com/ChargerLAB-KM003C-Portable-Charging-Voltmeter/dp/B0BJ24PVNJ

Grammarly has [1]acquired the AI email client Superhuman to enhance its AI-driven productivity suite and expand AI capabilities within email communication. Financial terms of the deal were not [2]disclosed but Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra and his team will be joining the AI writing company. TechCrunch reports:

> Superhuman was founded by Rahul Vohra, Vivek Sodera, and Conrad Irwin. The company raised more than $114 million in funding from backers including a16z, IVP, and Tiger Global, with its last valuation at $825 million, according to data from venture data analytics firm Traxcn. "With Superhuman, we can deliver that future to millions more professionals while giving our existing users another surface for agent collaboration that simply doesn't exist anywhere else. Email isn't just another app; it's where professionals spend significant portions of their day, and it's the perfect staging ground for orchestrating multiple AI agents simultaneously," Shishir Mehrotra, CEO of Grammarly, said in a statement.

>

> With this deal, CEO Vohra and other Superhuman employees are moving over to Grammarly. "Email is the main communication tool for billions of people worldwide and the number-one use case for Grammarly customers. By joining forces with Grammarly, we will invest even more in the core Superhuman experience, as well as create a new way of working where AI agents collaborate across the communication tools that we all use every day," Rahul Vohra, CEO of Superhuman, said in a statement.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/01/grammarly-acquires-ai-email-client-superhuman/

[2] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250630889937/en/Grammarly-to-Acquire-Superhuman-to-Accelerate-Its-AI-Productivity-Platform

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

> Last week, OpenAI raised objections in court, hoping to overturn a court order requiring the AI company to [1]retain all ChatGPT logs "indefinitely ," including deleted and temporary chats. But Sidney Stein, the US district judge reviewing OpenAI's request, immediately denied OpenAI's objections. He was seemingly unmoved by the company's claims that the order forced OpenAI to abandon "long-standing privacy norms" and weaken privacy protections that users expect based on ChatGPT's terms of service. Rather, Stein suggested that OpenAI's user agreement specified that their data could be retained as part of a legal process, which Stein said is exactly what is happening now.

>

> The order was issued by magistrate judge Ona Wang just days after news organizations, led by The New York Times, requested it. The news plaintiffs claimed the order was urgently needed to preserve potential evidence in their copyright case, alleging that ChatGPT users are likely to delete chats where they attempted to use the chatbot to skirt paywalls to access news content. A spokesperson told Ars that OpenAI plans to "keep fighting" the order, but the ChatGPT maker seems to have few options left. They could possibly petition the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for a rarely granted emergency order that could intervene to block Wang's order, but the appeals court would have to consider Wang's order an extraordinary abuse of discretion for OpenAI to win that fight.

>

> In the meantime, OpenAI is negotiating a process that will [2]allow news plaintiffs to search through the retained data . Perhaps the sooner that process begins, the sooner the data will be deleted. And that possibility puts OpenAI in the difficult position of having to choose between either caving to some data collection to stop retaining data as soon as possible or prolonging the fight over the order and potentially putting more users' private conversations at risk of exposure through litigation or, worse, a data breach. [...]

>

> Both sides are negotiating the exact process for searching through the chat logs, with both parties seemingly hoping to minimize the amount of time the chat logs will be preserved. For OpenAI, sharing the logs risks revealing instances of infringing outputs that could further spike damages in the case. The logs could also expose how often outputs attribute misinformation to news plaintiffs. But for news plaintiffs, accessing the logs is not considered key to their case -- perhaps providing additional examples of copying -- but could help news organizations argue that ChatGPT dilutes the market for their content. That could weigh against the fair use argument, as a judge opined in a recent ruling that evidence of market dilution could tip an AI copyright case in favor of plaintiffs.



[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/04/2039245/openai-slams-court-order-to-save-all-chatgpt-logs-including-deleted-chats

[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/nyt-to-start-searching-deleted-chatgpt-logs-after-beating-openai-in-court/

AI-powered note-taking apps are increasingly attending workplace meetings [1]in place of human participants , creating situations where automated transcription bots outnumber actual attendees.

Major platforms including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet now offer built-in note-taking features that record, transcribe and summarize meetings for invited participants who don't attend. The technology operates under varying legal frameworks, with most states requiring only single-party consent for recording while California, Florida, and Pennsylvania mandate all-party approval.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/no-one-likes-meetings-they-re-sending-their-ai-note-takers-instead/ar-AA1HP5O5

Amazon plans to [1]shut down its standalone Freevee app in August , according to an in-app notice to users. From a report:

> The free, ad-supported streaming service is directing viewers to continue watching Freevee content on Prime Video.

>

> "Prime Video is the new exclusive home for Freevee Tv show, movies, and Live TV," the notice to readers states. "The Freevee app will be accessible until August 2025. Continue watching your favorite Free Originals and our library of hit movies, shows, and live TV on Prime Video for free, no subscription needed. Download Prime Video to get started and sign-in with your Amazon account."



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/02/amazon-is-shutting-down-its-freevee-app-in-august/

China will launch digital IDs for internet use on July 15th, [1]transferring online verification from private companies to government control . Users obtain digital IDs by submitting personal information including facial scans to police via an app. A pilot program launched one year ago enrolled 6 million people.

The system currently remains voluntary, though officials and state media are pushing citizens to register for "information security." Companies will see only anonymized character strings when users log in, while police retain exclusive access to personal details. The program replaces China's existing system requiring citizens to register with companies using real names before posting comments, gaming, or making purchases.

Police say they punished 47,000 people last year for spreading "rumours" online. The digital ID serves a broader government strategy to centralize data control. State planners classify data as a production factor alongside labor and capital, aiming to extract information from private companies for trading through government-operated data exchanges.



[1] https://www.economist.com/china/2025/07/01/chinas-giant-new-gamble-with-digital-ids

A California jury has ordered Google to [1]pay $314.6 million to Android smartphone users in the state after finding the company liable for collecting data from idle devices without permission.

The San Jose jury ruled Tuesday that Google sent and received information from phones while idle, creating "mandatory and unavoidable burdens shouldered by Android device users for Google's benefit." The 2019 class action represented an estimated 14 million Californians who argued Google consumed their cellular data for targeted advertising purposes.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-hit-with-314-million-us-verdict-cellular-data-class-action-2025-07-01/

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Law enforcement officials are investigating a former employee of a company that negotiates with hackers and facilitates cryptocurrency payments during ransomware attacks, according to a statement from the firm, DigitalMint. DigitalMint President Marc Jason Grens this week told organizations it works with that the US Justice Department is examining allegations that the then-employee [1]struck deals with hackers to profit from extortion payments , according to a person familiar with the matter.

>

> Grens did not identify the employee by name and characterized their actions as isolated, said the person, who spoke on condition that they not be identified describing private conversations. DigitalMint is cooperating with a criminal investigation into "alleged unauthorized conduct by the employee while employed here," Grens said in an email to Bloomberg News. The Chicago-based company is not the target of the investigation and the employee "was immediately terminated," Grens said, adding that he can't provide more information because the probe is ongoing.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/us-probes-whether-negotiator-took-slice-of-hacker-payments/ar-AA1HQ8YL

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> From Somalia to mainland Europe, the past two years have seen some of the most ravaging droughts in recorded history, [1]made worse by climate change , according to a UN-backed report. Describing drought as a "silent killer" which "creeps in, drains resources, and devastates lives in slow motion" the report said it had exacerbated issues like poverty and ecosystem collapse.

>

> The report highlighted impacts in Africa, the Mediterranean, Latin America and Southeast Asia, including an estimated 4.4 million people in Somalia facing crisis-level food insecurity at the beginning of this year. It recommends governments prepare for a "new normal" with measures including stronger early warning systems.



[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg33r1xgymo

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Lorde [a popular New Zealand singer and songwriter] fans are clearly [1]struggling to play the CD version of her new album . Customers who purchased the special edition of Virgin released on a transparent plastic disc are [2]reporting on Reddit and TikTok that many CD players, car stereos, and other sound systems they've tried are unable to play it.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/696805/lorde-virgin-album-transparent-cd-wont-play

[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/lorde/comments/1llsuje/the_transparent_cd_doesnt_play_in_my_cd_player/

Microsoft is kicking off its fiscal year by firing thousands of employees in the largest round of layoffs since 2023, the company confirmed Wednesday. From a report:

> In an ongoing effort to streamline its workforce, Microsoft said that as much as 4%, or roughly 9,100, of the company's employees [1]could be affected by Wednesday's layoffs . The move follows two waves of layoffs in May and June, which saw Microsoft fire more than 6,000 employees, almost 2,300 of whom were based in Washington.



[1] https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsoft-to-lay-off-as-many-as-9000-employees-in-latest-round/

Earth's atmosphere now has more carbon dioxide in it than it has in millions -- and possibly tens of millions -- of years, according to data released last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and scientists at the University of California San Diego. From a report:

> For the first time, global average concentrations of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emitted as a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, [1]exceeded 430 parts per million (ppm) in May . The new readings were a record high and represented an increase of more than 3 ppm over last year.

>

> The measurements indicate that countries are not doing enough to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the steady buildup of C02, which climate scientists point to as the main culprit for global warming. "Another year, another record," Ralph Keeling, a professor of climate sciences, marine chemistry and geochemistry at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in a statement. "It's sad."



[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/science/climate-change/earth-co2-record-global-warming-rcna210974

The UK government is preparing new legislation to [1]address undersea cable sabotage as current laws are proving inadequate for modern threats. Ministry of Defence parliamentary under-secretary Luke Pollard told lawmakers yesterday that the Submarine Telegraph Act of 1885, which imposes 1,000 pound ($1,370) fines, "does seem somewhat out of step with the modern-day risk."

The government's Strategic Defence Review proposes a new defence readiness bill to cover state-sponsored cybercrime and subsea cable attacks. Chris Bryant, minister of state for data protection and telecoms, said fines could be increased to 5,000 pound ($6,850) through secondary legislation but "that just doesn't seem to meet the needs of the situation."

Recent incidents include Sweden's deployment of forces to the Baltic Sea following suspected Russian attacks on underwater data cables in January. The China Strategic Risks Institute found that eight of ten identified vessels in 12 sabotage incidents between January 2021 and April 2025 were linked to China or Russia through registration or ownership.



[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/02/uk_cable_sabotage_law/

[1]BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz:

> In a move that feels straight out of a different era, Xerox has officially [2]acquired Lexmark for $1.5 billion . The deal includes net debt and assumed liabilities, and it pulls Lexmark out of the hands of Chinese ownership and into a freshly restructured Xerox. That's a lot of money for a company best known for making machines that spit out paper.

>

> According to [3]Xerox , this is all part of a "Reinvention" strategy. The company now claims it will be one of the top five players in every major print category and the leader in managed print services. [...] Xerox says the new leadership team will include executives from both sides, and the combined business will now support over 200,000 clients in more than 170 countries. They'll also be running 125 manufacturing and distribution centers in 16 countries.



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

[2] https://nerds.xyz/2025/07/xerox-buys-lexmark-printer-merger/

[3] https://investors.xerox.com/news-releases/news-release-details/xerox-completes-acquisition-lexmark-uniting-two-industry-leaders

An anonymous reader quotes a report from GameSpot:

> Perhaps responding to economic uncertainty and narrowing job prospects, young people in the United States are [1]significantly cutting back on spending on video games compared to this time last year . While 18- to 24-year-olds aren't buying as much across a range of different categories, losses are concentrated in games. New data published by market research firm Circana and reported by [2]The Wall Street Journal suggests that young adults spent nearly 25% less on video game products in a four-week span in April than in the same timeframe last year. Other categories also dramatic drops: Accessories (down 18%), technology (down 14%), and furniture (down 12%).

>

> All categories combined, the 18-24 age group spent around 13% less than last year. This decrease is not reflected among older cohorts, whose spending has been mostly stable year-over-year. The WSJ report suggests that the economic context could be driving young adults to pull back; a tighter labor market, increased economic uncertainty, and student-loan payments restarting all may be contributing to an environment hostile to the spending habits of 18- to 24-year-olds in particular.



[1] https://www.gamespot.com/articles/young-americans-are-spending-a-whole-lot-less-on-video-games-this-year/1100-6532877/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f

[2] https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/young-american-consumer-spending-cut-f2b482e5?st=HJkcW3

China's Northwestern Polytechnical University [1]successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft called Feitian-2 , claiming it reached Mach 12 and achieved a world-first by autonomously switching between rocket and ramjet propulsion mid-flight. The Register reports:

> The University named the craft "Feitian-2" and [2]according to Chinese media the test flight saw it reach Mach 12 (14,800 km/h or 9,200 mph) -- handily faster than the Mach 5 speeds considered to represent hypersonic flight. Chinese media have not detailed the size of Feitian-2, or its capabilities other than to repeat the University's claim that it combined a rocket and a ramjet into a single unit. [...] The University and Chinese media [3]claim the Feitian-2 flew autonomously while changing from rocket to ramjet while handling the hellish stresses that come with high speed flight.

>

> This test matters because, as the US [4]Congressional Budget Office found in 2023, hypothetical hypersonic missiles "have the potential to create uncertainty about what their ultimate target is. Their low flight profile puts them below the horizon for long-range radar and makes them difficult to track, and their ability to maneuver while gliding makes their path unpredictable." "Hypersonic weapons can also maneuver unpredictably at high speeds to counter short-range defenses near a target, making it harder to track and intercept them," the Office found.

>

> Washington is so worried about Beijing developing hypersonic weapons that the Trump administration cited the possibility as one reason for banning another 27 Chinese organizations from doing business with US suppliers of AI and advanced computing tech. The flight of Feitian-2 was therefore a further demonstration of China's ability to develop advanced technologies despite US bans.



[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/01/china_successfully_tests_hypersonic_aircraft/

[2] https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/7879923924/m1d5ae18d4020015o2a

[3] https://www.nwpu.edu.cn/info/1198/107068.htm

[4] https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58924

MethaneSAT, an $88 million satellite backed by Jeff Bezos and led by the Environmental Defense Fund to track global methane emissions, [1]has been lost in space after going off course and losing power over Norway. "We're seeing this as a setback, not a failure," Amy Middleton, senior vice president at EDF, told Reuters. "We've made so much progress and so much has been learned that if we hadn't taken this risk, we wouldn't have any of these learnings." Reuters reports:

> The launch of MethaneSAT [2]in March 2024 was a milestone in a years-long campaign by EDF to hold accountable the more than 120 countries that in 2021 pledged to curb their methane emissions. It also sought to help enforce a further promise from 50 oil and gas companies made at the Dubai COP28 climate summit in December 2023 to eliminate methane and routine gas flaring. [...] While MethaneSAT was not the only project to publish satellite data on methane emissions, its backers said it provided more detail on emissions sources and it partnered with Google to create a publicly-available global map of emissions.

>

> EDF reported the lost satellite to federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Space Force on Tuesday, it said. Building and launching the satellite cost $88 million, according to the EDF. The organization had received a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020 and got other major financial support from Arnold Ventures, the Robertson Foundation and the TED Audacious Project and EDF donors. The project was also partnered with the New Zealand Space Agency. EDF said it had insurance to cover the loss and its engineers were investigating what had happened.

>

> The organization said it would continue to use its resources, including aircraft with methane-detecting spectrometers, to look for methane leaks. It also said it was too early to say whether it would seek to launch another satellite but believed MethaneSAT proved that a highly sensitive instrument "could see total methane emissions, even at low levels, over wide areas."



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bezos-backed-methane-tracking-satellite-is-lost-space-2025-07-01/

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/03/06/2034247/satellite-to-name-and-shame-worst-oil-and-gas-methane-polluters

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch:

> No wonder Google is desperate for more power: The company's data centers [1]more than doubled their electricity use in just four years . The eye-popping stat comes from Google's [2]most recent sustainability report , which it released late last week. In 2024, Google data centers used 30.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity. That's up from 14.4 million megawatt-hours in 2020, the earliest year Google broke out data center consumption. Google has pledged to use only carbon-free sources of electricity to power its operations, a task made more challenging by its breakneck pace of data center growth. And the company's electricity woes are almost entirely a data center problem. In 2024, data centers accounted for 95.8% of the entire company's electron budget.

>

> The company's ratio of data-center-to-everything-else has been remarkably consistent over the last four years. Though 2020 is the earliest year Google has made data center electricity consumption figures available, it's possible to use that ratio to extrapolate back in time. Some quick math reveals that Google's data centers likely used just over 4 million megawatt-hours of electricity in 2014. That's sevenfold growth in just a decade. The tech company has already picked most of the low-hanging fruit by improving the efficiency of its data centers. Those efforts have paid off, and the company is frequently lauded for being at the leading edge. But as [3]the company's power usage effectiveness (PUE) has approached the theoretical ideal of 1.0, progress has slowed. Last year, Google's company-wide PUE dropped to 1.09, a 0.01 improvement over 2023 but only 0.02 better than a decade ago.

Yesterday, Google [4]announced a deal to purchase 200 megawatts of future fusion energy from Commonwealth Fusion Systems, despite the energy source not yet existing. "It's a sign of how hungry big tech companies are for a virtually unlimited source of clean power that is still years away," reports CNN.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/01/googles-data-center-energy-use-doubled-in-four-years/

[2] https://sustainability.google/google-2025-environmental-report/

[3] https://datacenters.google/efficiency/#2014

[4] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/06/30/2143225/google-buys-200-megawatts-of-fusion-energy-that-doesnt-even-exist-yet

[1]Laptop Mag , a tech publication that began in 1991 as a print magazine, is [2]shutting down after nearly 35 years . The Verge reports:

> Laptop Mag has evolved many times over the years. It started as a print publication in 1991, when Bedford Communications launched the Laptop Buyers Guide and Handbook. Laptop Mag was later acquired by TechMedia Network (which is now called Purch) in 2011 and transitioned to digital-only content in 2013. Future PLC, the publisher that owns brands like PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, and TechRadar, acquired Purch -- and Laptop Mag along with it.

>

> "We are incredibly grateful for your dedication, talent, and contributions to Laptop Mag, and we are committed to supporting you throughout this transition," [Faisal Alani, the global brand director at Laptop Mag owner Future PLC] said. Laptop Mag's shutdown follows the [3]closure of long-running tech site AnandTech , which was also owned by Future PLC. It's not clear whether Laptop Mag's archives will be available following the shutdown.



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

[2] https://www.theverge.com/news/695969/laptop-mag-shutdown-future-plc

[3] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/08/30/1235233/anandtech-shuts-down-after-27-year-run