Dell [1]reported record fiscal Q2 results as AI server demand surged, [2]booking $60.9 billion in AI server orders and ending the quarter with a $95 billion backlog. From a report:

> The company posted record revenue of $47 billion, up 58% year over year. Earnings per share came in at $6.34, up 273% from a year ago. Adjusted earnings rose 203% to $7.04 per share.

>

> "With AI momentum accelerating and our opportunity expanding across the portfolio, we're raising our full-year FY27 revenue outlook by $25 billion to $192 billion, up nearly 70% year over year," said Jeff Clarke, CEO of Dell Technologies, in the company's earnings release.

>

> Dell has seen its orders balloon as enterprise customers adopt artificial intelligence and use AI servers locally to run agentic AI queries. Dell stock is up more than 230% year to date. Peer Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which also moved up 110% since the start of the year, jumped in after-hours trading.



[1] https://investors.delltechnologies.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dell-technologies-delivers-second-quarter-fiscal-2027-financial

[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/dell-stock-surges-on-record-orders-for-ai-servers-205629050.html

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired:

> Sonos has a new app. Stop me if you've heard this one before. The smart speaker company, long a darling of the audio industry, undid much of the goodwill it earned with its multiroom speakers through a bevy of software updates that [1]broke its app in 2024 . Almost all app users hated it, citing the [2]loss of features like volume control and accessibility tools meant to help blind people use the wireless speaker system. Sonos eventually [3]owned up to the mistake , considered [4]bringing back the old app again, then [5]booted its CEO and marched its new leaders out to apologize profusely to win back the company's furious customers.

>

> Now, Sonos says it has a [6]brand-new app update, infused with lots of generative AI features . The company also [7]announced a new soundbar and its second pair of over-the-ear headphones. Sonos representatives say it doesn't want to be seen as a speaker company anymore, but as something bigger and more holistic. "For years people have been seeing us as a speaker company," says Brandon Holley, the interim hardware lead at Sonos. "What we actually are is an audio operating system." The company is calling that operating system Sonos 27, and it manifests in a few ways.

>

> [...] This is a lot of change for Sonos, something the company hasn't always handled gracefully. Sonos' home systems already aren't the easiest to set up, sometimes requiring separate apps for older products. The company may be rejiggering itself as an "audio operating system," but its software has long been the source of its troubles with getting its products to work right. Will AI smarts fix that? Maybe for its newer devices. But anyone with an existing system may still struggle. The AI features on products and in the Sonos 27 app will be opt-in, meaning you can avoid them entirely. "That really is our new approach to our app release," Patel says. "We're going to bring our customers along. We're going to listen more." That would be a good plan. Sounds like Sonos' speakers will be listening more, too.

Sonos is emphasizing a more "customer-centric feedback listening approach" after the backlash to its previous redesign. Improvements include easier tab navigation, better room sorting, revamped volume controls, and new system-health tools for diagnosing connection problems.

The centerpiece is Sonos 27voice, a generative AI voice assistant that can handle conversational music requests, connect with services like ChatGPT through Model Context Protocol, and power customizable "Sonos Custom Agents" for tasks such as automatically activating certain speakers. "Obviously AI is something that's very hot these days," Sonos software VP Sid Patel said. "So we have integrated various pieces of AI into our system." However, the features will only work with the newer S2 app, and Sonos cautions that "not every product will support every new feature," with detailed compatibility information coming later.

Sonos is also branding its multiroom networking technology Sonos Fabric, which what Patel calls "the magic that has existed for what Sonos was built on." New Fabric features include portable surround, which lets users temporarily move speakers between rooms and have them automatically configure themselves for surround sound, and Headphone Linking, which lets users seamlessly switch audio between Sonos speakers and headphones.



[1] https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/05/09/1554231/sonos-says-its-controversial-app-redesign-took-courage

[2] https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/05/18/0125202/facing-angry-users-sonos-promises-to-fix-flaws-and-restore-removed-features

[3] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/08/08/2054229/sonos-delays-two-new-products-as-it-races-to-fix-buggy-app

[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/08/21/231243/sonos-ceo-says-the-old-app-cant-be-rereleased

[5] https://slashdot.org/story/25/01/13/1410220/sonos-ceo-patrick-spence-steps-down-after-disastrous-app-launch

[6] https://www.wired.com/story/sonos-has-new-devices-a-new-os-and-yes-a-new-app/

[7] https://newsroom.sonos.com/269789-sonos-introduces-sonos-27-the-next-generation-of-its-audio-operating-system/

NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract worth up to $700 million to [1]build and operate a dedicated Mars telecommunications network for current and future missions to the Red Planet. Blue Origin is expected to deliver the spacecraft by the end of 2028, with the network targeted to become operational by 2030. From a press release:

> Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch, and operate the network as a part of the agency's broader space communications and navigation infrastructure. The architecture will consist of a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars, transmitting science data, imagery, navigation information, and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet.

>

> The award marks a milestone in NASA's strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the Moon, establishing the foundation for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades.



[1] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-blue-origin-as-mars-telecommunications-network-provider/

New submitter [1]greytree shares a report from Brown University:

> LUX-ZEPLIN, an experiment co-led by Brown University faculty and students, [2]observed a particle interaction that could be interpreted as a signal from WIMPs , a dark matter candidate -- but researchers need more data to confirm. [...] The result does not yet meet the statistical threshold required to claim a discovery, but it is the most compelling hint of dark matter reported by the experiment to date. "We're very intrigued to see this event in the data, in the region where we expect dark matter to show up, and the competing backgrounds are very low," said Rick Gaitskell, a professor of physics at Brown University and the spokesperson for LZ. "With only one event, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We are not claiming to have seen dark matter. But we have seen something interesting that we want to share with the scientific community for their input." [...]

>

> If the anomalous event was caused by dark matter, the WIMP that generated it would likely have a mass of at least 200 GeV/c2 (gigaelectronvolts), or more than 200 times the mass of a proton. The LZ results have not reached "5-sigma" significance, the statistical threshold in physics that an event must reach to be considered a discovery. The new analysis is 2.6 sigma, meaning there is approximately a 0.5% chance that the event could be explained by known backgrounds. With additional data, researchers can test whether the finding continues to grow in significance or fades away. LZ has already accumulated the world's largest dark matter dataset and will continue to accrue WIMP search data at SURF, substantially improving their search statistics.

>

> JiJi Fan, an associate professor of physics at Brown not involved in the LZ experimental research but whose theoretical work is cited in the new LZ paper, said the new findings were "very intriguing." While the event recorded by LZ could not have been the simplest type of WIMP interaction, there are other types of possible interactions that could explain it, she said. Had a WIMP interacted in the simplest way at the high energy associated with this recent event, the detector would have recorded many recoil events at lower energies following the initial event. LZ recorded a single event, however, which requires an expanded theoretical explanation. "There are well-motivated theoretical extensions, including inelastic scattering and momentum-dependent elastic scattering, that could potentially account for this single event," Fan said. "This also sets up a target for on-going dark matter hunting, not only at direct detection experiments such as LZ but also at other complementary experimental frontiers."

The results were presented in a scientific talk at the [3]2026 TeV Particle Astrophysics conference in Japan on Tuesday, Sept. 1. A [4]paper detailing the finding can be found [5]here (PDF).



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

[2] https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-09-01/lz-dark-matter-results

[3] https://indico-icehap.phys.s.chiba-u.ac.jp/event/3/contributions/471/

[4] https://lz.lbl.gov/

[5] https://lz.lbl.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/08/LZ_Preprint_260901_Dark_Matter_EFT_Nuclear_Recoil_Search_at_Higher_Energies.pdf

Anthropic has [1]released Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, two versions of the same underlying model aimed at longer-running agentic work. "For enterprise buyers, however, the release is about more than another round of benchmark gains," reports VentureBeat. "Anthropic is simultaneously changing the economics of running persistent agents, [2]reducing the cost of cached context by 75% , and introducing a new security architecture called Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, or EFS, designed to let organizations retain monitoring data inside infrastructure they control." From the report:

> Those changes arrive at a particularly consequential moment. Over the past several weeks, Anthropic and the U.K. AI Security Institute have [3]disclosed incidents in which earlier Claude models, running under unusually permissive cybersecurity evaluation conditions, took unauthorized actions against real systems. Anthropic temporarily paused external cyber evaluations and has since introduced additional containment and monitoring before resuming them.

>

> Taken together, Fable 5.1 looks less like a conventional model refresh than an attempt to solve three increasingly intertwined enterprise problems: how to make agents capable enough to finish difficult work, economical enough to leave running for hours, and governable enough to give access to sensitive systems.



[1] https://www.anthropic.com/claude-fable-and-mythos-5-1

[2] https://venturebeat.com/technology/anthropics-claude-fable-5-1-and-mythos-5-1-arrive-with-a-75-cost-reduction-for-fable-cache-reads

[3] https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/08/05/2157224/anthropics-ai-used-fake-identities-malware-in-rogue-attack-on-github-project

John Ternus has [1]officially taken over as Apple CEO after 15 years under Tim Cook, stepping up from his role as senior vice president of hardware engineering. A 25-year Apple veteran who helped oversee products including AirPods, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, Apple silicon, and the new MacBook Neo, Ternus now [2]inherits the challenge of pushing Apple forward in AI while Cook stays on as executive chairman. TechCrunch reports:

> Ternus has worked at Apple for nearly half of his life -- now 51 years old, he has been with the company for 25 years. He joined Apple's product design team in 2001 as only his second job out of college (his first was at a small maker of virtual-reality devices called Virtual Research Systems). By 2013, Ternus was a VP of hardware engineering and was promoted to the SVP role in 2021. [...] Ternus previously reported to Cook, who he considers a mentor, and led all of hardware engineering at Apple. That's a pretty big deal for a company that's known for ubiquitous hardware like the iPhone and the MacBook. [...] Ternus' earliest project at Apple involved scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema Display, an early desktop monitor. "At some point in my first year, I found myself at a supplier facility. I was far away from home. Well past midnight, I was using a magnifying glass to count the number of grooves on the head of a screw ... and I was arguing with the supplier because these parts had 35 grooves. They were supposed to have 25," Ternus recalled in his commencement speech. "I distinctly remember stepping back for a minute and thinking, 'What the hell am I doing? Is this normal?'"

>

> As Ternus climbed the corporate ladder, his responsibilities grew. He may no longer spend as much time analyzing screws, but he still seems to take pride in getting the little details right. In [3]a recent interview , when Ternus was asked about his favorite memory of Steve Jobs, he mentioned the former Apple co-founder's attention to craftsmanship. "[Jobs] was moving a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers, and pulled it away from the wall and looked at the back and was just reflecting on, you know, that the carpenter who made it had made it beautiful," Ternus said. "It finished the back as beautifully as the rest of it, even though nobody was going to see it, right? And I think about that all the time because I think that perfectly exemplifies what we do here."

>

> From there, he went on to lead the hardware development behind products across the Apple ecosystem, overseeing launches like AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro. He also had a hand in major technical upgrades at Apple, like Apple's transition from Intel chips to its own proprietary Apple silicon. Most recently, Ternus was involved in the production of the MacBook Neo, Apple's new, more affordable laptop model that lowers costs through some clever trade-offs in hardware design, like using an iPhone chip to power the device. "We never want to ship junk. We want to ship great products that have that Apple experience, that Apple quality. To do that with the Neo required building something completely new from the ground up ... leveraging both the technologies we'd been developing like Apple silicon, but also the kind of expertise that we've developed over many, many years of building Macs, and building phones, and building iPads, and all of these things," Ternus [4]told Tom's Guide .



[1] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/08/31/1719253/tim-cooks-last-day-as-ceo-of-apple

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/01/who-is-john-ternus-the-incoming-apple-ceo/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBudtxgor0

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBudtxgor0

GoPro [1]plans to expand into AI infrastructure through a $285 million merger with optical-photonics company Starman Optical, whose transceivers will give the action-camera maker a foothold in the fast-growing data center market. GoPro also plans to push into defense, robotics, aerospace, and government markets while continuing its existing camera business. Engadget reports:

> Starman's optical transceivers are expected to fall under its umbrella, "extending the Company's reach into the large and rapidly growing market for AI infrastructure in optical transceivers," according to a press release. GoPro is also planning a push into the defense, government, robotics and aerospace sectors, bolstered by the combined company's IP, optics and imaging capabilities.

>

> [...] As [2]Reuters notes , GoPro briefly reached a valuation of $4 billion on its first day as a publicly traded company in 2014. Its stock has struggled in recent years, but the share price received a boost on Monday when it was revealed that YouTuber and filmmaker Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) had become GoPro's largest individual shareholder after acquiring an 8.5 percent stake.

The move follows a similar pivot made by the struggling shoe retailer Allbirds in April when it [3]announced a pivot to AI compute infrastructure, sending the stock soaring more than 700%.



[1] https://www.engadget.com/2248633/gopro-says-its-moving-into-ai-data-centers-as-part-of-a-dollar285-million-merger/

[2] https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/gopro-be-acquired-by-starman-optical-285-million-deal-2026-09-01/

[3] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/15/1646259/struggling-shoe-retailer-allbirds-pivots-to-ai-stock-explodes-more-than-700

Dyson is entering oral care with the $499 [1]CameraJet , a smart toothbrush that [2]uses a tiny camera and on-device AI to detect gaps between teeth and automatically blast them with mouthwash while you brush. Regular toothpaste and mouthwash will work with the CameraJet, but Dyson plans to sell its own non- or low-foaming formulas designed to give the toothbrush's camera a clearer view inside your mouth. The Verge reports:

> Just below the brush head is a tiny camera with a 100,000-pixel resolution and a strobing light. The toothbrush's AI analyzes 28 live images from the camera every second as part of a feature Dyson calls Gap Optical Targeting, without storing them on the device or sending them to the cloud. Within 100 milliseconds of a gap between your teeth being detected, the CameraJet emits a cone-shaped blast of mouthwash to clean out the space. Dyson uses a wider blast than what water flossers typically employ so it can effectively remove plaque with less pressure, making the CameraJet's flossing mechanism gentler on enamel and gums

>

> The replaceable brush heads use a combination of softer outer bristles that safely clean along the gumline and stiffer inner bristles that are better at scrubbing away tooth stains. The brush head oscillates nearly 1,000 times each second while the angle of oscillation is constantly changing to improve the effectiveness of your brushing. Pricing on replacement brush heads isn't known, but each one features an RFID tag so the CameraJet can track usage and alert you when a replacement is needed every three months.

>

> To ensure its mouthwash reservoir can effectively pump no matter how the CameraJet is held -- even upside down -- instead of sticking a tube into the reservoir, there's an air bladder inside the tank that slowly inflates to fill empty space, minimize air pockets, and maintain a constant pressure. An elaborate docking station recharges the toothbrush and can automatically fill its built-in 12.5ml mouthwash reservoir in just three seconds.



[1] https://www.dyson.com/oral-care/electric-toothbrush/camerajet/ceramic-ultra-blue

[2] https://www.theverge.com/tech/986737/dyson-camerajet-smart-toothbrush-live-camera-flosser-pricing-availability

BT [1]could make more than $2.7 billion by recycling copper from its aging UK landline network as BT subsidiary Openreach replaces legacy wiring with full-fiber broadband. Engadget reports:

> BT's recovered copper was previously valued at around $2 billion. But prices have surged, thanks to [2]rising global demand tied to AI data centers, renewable energy and electrification. With global demand expected to grow sharply over the next decade, the value of BT's copper could potentially exceed even that $2.7 billion estimate.

>

> The BT subsidiary Openreach is in the process of replacing its legacy copper network with full-fiber broadband, with plans to connect 30 million residences by the end of the decade. It's already recovered nearly 10,000 metric tons of copper in its latest financial year and over 22,000 metric tons since 2023. "Copper has become one of the most strategic materials in the modern economy," according to Openreach's head of sustainability, Abby Chicken.

>

> Unsurprisingly, BT isn't waiting to profit from the recovered metal. It has an agreement with EMR, a cable recycling company, and recently received $133 million up front for recovered copper.



[1] https://www.engadget.com/2248735/bts-old-copper-network-could-be-worth-over-dollar2-billion/

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2026/08/18/the-coming-copper-crunch/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat:

> The viral fervor we [1]saw earlier this year around OpenClaw, the open source AI harness that turns powerful language models into autonomous workers the user can message via their favorite channels (Telegram, iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord etc), has cooled off substantially from its peak in March 2026. But over the weekend, OpenClaw's creator Peter Steinberger and current team of co-developers gave the world -- especially enterprises -- a reason to look at it again, announcing OpenClaw 2.0, billed as [2]the most significant update to the harness and surrounding platform yet .

>

> OpenClaw 2.0 seeks to transform what began largely as a personal agent harness into something increasingly designed for teams, shared infrastructure and enterprise workflows. OpenClaw 2.0 introduces a rebuilt browser interface that brings conversations, files, approvals, configuration and live agent activity into a common workspace. It adds shared cloud sessions and multi-user collaboration. And it expands the security model with stronger sandboxing, role-based permissions, approval controls, secrets handling and auditing.

>

> Together, those additions move OpenClaw closer to being infrastructure that an organization could deploy for employees rather than simply a powerful agent an individual developer runs locally. They also sharpen a competitive question surrounding the project: whether OpenClaw has addressed the security and isolation concerns that helped inspire newer alternatives such as NanoClaw. The answer is increasingly yes at the capability level -- but not necessarily by default.

Over the past two months, OpenClaw has been "build[ing] OpenClaw with OpenClaw," shifting its team from individual local coding tools to a shared agent environment at team.openclaw.ai that can see what everyone is working on. Steinberger [3]called "multiplayer coding + infinite compute with nodes and cloud sessions" a "game changer," adding that local coding harnesses now "feel like relics of the past."

VentureBeat highlights a use case from Solvely CEO Colin Johnson that [4]shows how OpenClaw's multiplayer WebUI can improve collaboration between developers and AI agents. Instead of simply "messaging a bot," multiple developers can now join the same live session, see the same history and artifacts, and work "inside the same context." In Johnson's case, that meant a developer taking over his project could simply join the existing agent thread rather than rely on a separate handoff document. As he put it, "the session itself became the handoff document."



[1] https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/02/19/223226/openclaw-security-fears-lead-meta-other-ai-firms-to-restrict-its-use?sdsrc=rel

[2] https://venturebeat.com/technology/openclaw-2-0-is-here-what-it-means-for-enterprises

[3] https://x.com/steipete/status/2094290652649636173

[4] https://x.com/colinsolvely/status/2094624645760610589

Anthropic has reportedly [1]signed a $35 billion cloud-computing deal with Nvidia-backed Lambda for a roughly 350-megawatt Texas data center being developed by Hut 8. "Lambda will install Nvidia chips at the Hut 8 facility, with the arrangement designed to expand the pool of Nvidia computing resources available to power Anthropic's Claude AI products," reports Quartz. From the report:

> The arrangement is a further sign of how Nvidia is positioning itself as a facilitator of computing access across the AI industry. It also benefited Lambda, which counts Nvidia as an investor and was able to land a major Anthropic contract without having to independently source or lease the underlying data center space, according to the Journal.

>

> The data center covers roughly 350 megawatts of capacity, according to [2]Bloomberg . Hut 8, which began as a bitcoin mining company before moving into AI data centers, disclosed in July that an investment-grade customer had signed 15-year leases for its Texas campus, with a base contract value of $19.6 billion, without naming the tenant.

>

> The Lambda deal is the latest in a series of large computing agreements Anthropic has pursued. Last week, the company agreed to spend $45 billion to rent capacity from Nscale's West Virginia data center campus. It has also signed deals worth $50 billion with neocloud Fluidstack Ltd. and $45 billion with SpaceX, according to Bloomberg.



[1] https://qz.com/anthropic-lambda-nvidia-cloud-deal-35-billion-090126

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-31/anthropic-seals-35-billion-cloud-deal-with-nvidia-backed-lambda

[1]TIME's 2026 list of the 100 most influential people in AI [2]omits Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su , despite both having appeared on previous editions and playing central roles in the hardware powering the AI boom. Nvidia's only representative this year is sustainability chief Josh Parker, while the list includes figures such as Ben Affleck and Paris Hilton alongside major tech executives and policymakers. Tom's Hardware reports:

> Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song, and Huawei HiSilicon president He Tingbo all appear on the 2026 list, joined by Cerebras' Andrew Feldman, CoreWeave's Michael Intrator, and Nscale's Josh Payne. Together, the roster includes Nvidia's HBM supplier, two of its biggest GPU cloud customers, its custom-accelerator rivals, and China, which is trying -- and so far struggling -- to replace Nvidia altogether.

>

> Parker's profile, which appears under the Thinkers category, focuses on data center energy and water consumption, alongside Nvidia's tripling of Scope 3 emissions in two years, and the Rubin platform's shift to 100% liquid cooling. "Nvidia is at the center of the AI revolution," Parker told TIME.

>

> TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs wrote in the list's accompanying article that selection was led by editor Ayesha Javed, and that the 100 honorees represent the year's "key storylines and who, in our opinion, are having the most influence in driving these developments." Now in its fourth year, this edition of the TIME100 AI appears to have focused especially on featuring the new additions to TIME's community of AI leaders, with Mark Zuckerberg, Demis Hassabis, Sundar Pichai, and Satya Nadella representing four other honorees, arguably deserving of a space on this year's list, churned out.

>

> Su's strong TIME back catalog makes her omission all the stranger still. The magazine named her its 2024 CEO of the Year, put her on the 2024 AI list and the main TIME100 in 2025, and included her among December's Architects of AI.



[1] https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/

[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/jensen-huang-and-lisa-su-snubbed-by-times-2026-ai-list-paris-hilton-and-ben-affleck-among-others-make-the-list-as-architects-of-ai-are-totally-absent

California lawmakers have passed a bill that [1]would legalize plug-in "balcony" solar systems , allowing residents to connect small solar panels directly to a standard wall outlet after completing a simple online registration. The systems would be capped at 1,200 watts and must meet safety requirements designed to prevent power from feeding back onto the grid during outages. KQED reports:

> The legislation, [2]SB 868 , sailed through the state assembly and senate with bipartisan support. The bill now moves to the governor's desk for signature. The devices can be tented in a backyard, hung off a balcony or placed on a roof. Models range from as low as [3]$300 to [4]$2200 , depending on size. The bill would open the solar market to people who were previously left out: renters, people with unsuitable roofs, and those lacking the capital to build out a rooftop system, which can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

>

> [...] If signed into law by Newsom, the legislation would exempt plug-in solar devices from what critics say is a cumbersome and expensive interconnection application process, and replace registration with a free and straightforward online form. [...] The newly passed bill outlines several device requirements. The balcony solar systems must be capped at generating 1,200 watts per home, plug into a standard outlet, offset a customer's onsite electricity use and meet state and national electrical codes. They also must be certified by an outside safety organization like Underwriters Laboratories and have a feature that would prevent electricity from feeding back into the grid if there's a power outage.



[1] https://www.kqed.org/science/2001842/california-lawmakers-greenlight-solar-panels-you-can-plug-into-the-wall

[2] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB868

[3] https://www.brightsaver.org/

[4] https://craftstrom.com/

[1]schwit1 shares a report from WCTV:

> Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he's [2]removing Flock camera from state roadways . The [3]announcement comes amid a growing concern over the misuse of automated license plate readers. On Monday, DeSantis ordered all Flock cameras removed from what he calls the 'state highway system' within the next 30 days, which would include interstates like I-10 and I-75. That order led to several sheriff's departments like in Franklin, Liberty and Putnam Counties to announce they're ending their own license plate reader programs. According to the Florida Department of Transportation memo, if the cameras aren't removed from the state right-of-ways within 30 days, then the state government will take them down on their own. The memo also says FDOT will deny any other permits for cameras in the future.



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

[2] https://www.wctv.tv/2026/08/31/gov-desantis-set-remove-flock-cameras-state-roadways/

[3] https://x.com/TheChiefNerd/status/2094578905663295821

Researchers have [1]found that tiny electrical charges picked up by moving water droplets [2]may be damaging cars and buildings like the Eiffel Tower . In experiments, thousands of charged droplets degraded Teflon and corroded the copper beneath it, while uncharged droplets caused no comparable damage. C&EN reports:

> For years, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have studied how water droplets from rain, dew, ocean waves, and melting snow become electrically charged. They say the process is like tribocharging, which causes static when we rub certain objects together, such as a balloon on our hair or a sweater on our skin. "Water drops spontaneously become electrically charged when moving on different surfaces, such as plant leaves, insect wings, building walls, window glass, and plastic. This process, known as contact or sliding electrification, is analogous to tribocharging between solids," says study coauthor Zhongyuan Ni, a PhD candidate at Max Planck. "Water drops getting charged is not a new phenomenon, but for the past 200 years, people have not paid attention to this," Ni says.

>

> In 2023, Ni and colleagues set out to determine whether electrically charged water droplets affect the surfaces they contact. To find out, the team poured water over four common surfaces -- a plant leaf; polyvinyl chloride foam board; polystyrene glass; and perfluoro octadecyltrichlorosilane (PFOTS), a commonly used water-repelling coating -- and let it drip onto sheets of Teflon-coated copper tilted at 50 degrees. When the experiments began, the team would allow only a few dozen drops to fall onto the copper before using electron microscopy to examine it. The researchers repeatedly failed to find any evidence of decay. But one day, Ni just let the drops keep falling. "After thousands of drops, it looked like the drops were pinning onto the surface," he says. After inspecting the copper under the microscope, Ni got his first glimpse of the destructive strength of electrically charged water drops.

>

> After repeating the experiment several times with thousands rather than dozens of drops, the researchers found that the electrified water drops not only broke down the Teflon coating but also corroded the underlying copper. Up close, the copper sheets looked like scraped-up skin. But when the experiment was conducted with nonelectrified drops, neither the copper nor its Teflon coating was any worse for wear. Even though the drops contained only around 0.2 to 2.0 nanocoulombs of charge -- around one billionth of a standard unit -- the impact of the charged drops was significant.

"The finding is important because it suggests that the electrical state of a water droplet, not just its chemical composition, acidity, or mechanical impact, can influence how corrosion begins," says Guangwen Zhou, a professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton University who was not involved in the study.

"This perspective could open up new approaches to designing protective coatings and materials that are more resistant to corrosion in environments where charged water droplets are present."



[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10941-6

[2] https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/surface-chemistry/electrically-charged-raindrops-corrosion-cars/104/web/2026/08

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

> President Trump yesterday demanded that the Federal Communications Commission [1]punish or rebuke an NBC journalist for saying he has "mixed results" in his election endorsements. In the latest example of how Trump is using the FCC to harass reporters and news organizations that he dislikes, he said Meet the Press host Kristen Welker "will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment" for what he claimed was a "purposeful inaccuracy." "Kristen Welker, the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has 'mixed results' on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm. How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment," Trump wrote in a [2]Truth Social post .

>

> A separate [3]post from Trump yesterday said, "THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT." Trump also [4]posted a rant on Friday about New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, calling her "an unattractive person both inside and out" who "should be forced to turn over any and all money that she's made through her fake reporting on me." Trump referred to Haberman throughout his post as "Maggot Haberman." Trump's post about Welker included an image purporting to show he has near-perfect results in his endorsements this year. "The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," Trump wrote. Perhaps indicating that he will refer additional journalists for FCC punishment, Trump wrote that Welker "is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything 'TRUMP.'"

The FCC website [5]says the commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and that it "generally will not intervene" in complaints about "one-sided news reports" because "it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to replace the journalistic judgment of licensees with our own."

As noted by Ars, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has "made it clear he [6]takes orders from Trump , abandoning his previous position -- which he [7]held under Democratic presidents -- that the FCC must operate independently of White House interference."

Carr could use the commission's regulatory authority over licensed broadcasters to open an investigation into Welker, potentially creating pressure on NBC and its affiliated stations through licensing proceedings or other FCC actions. The most likely vehicle would be the FCC's rarely enforced news distortion policy, which Carr has [8]repeatedly revived to target coverage he considers misleading; historically, however, the policy required an unusually high evidentiary bar and was seldom enforced.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/trump-tells-fcc-to-punish-journalist-for-calling-his-election-results-mixed/

[2] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117184581053116309

[3] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117184527741564500

[4] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117175050400064794

[5] https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting

[6] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/17/1817255/fcc-chair-suggests-agency-isnt-independent-word-cut-from-mission-statement

[7] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/21/1424225/brendan-carr-is-officially-in-charge-of-the-fcc

[8] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/30/1933258/abc-accuses-fcc-of-attempted-censorship

The FTC and 22 state attorneys general are [1]suing Amazon, accusing the company of [2]secretly inflating advertising prices through undisclosed changes to its auction system that may have extracted more than $20 billion from advertisers since 2019. "Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. "These higher costs were largely passed on to American consumers." CNBC reports:

> The complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, centers on Amazon's sponsored products ads, brands ads and display ads that run alongside search results on its sprawling webstore. Amazon has amassed the third-largest digital advertising business globally, trailing only Google and Meta. The company hauled in more than $68 billion in ads revenue last year, with the lion's share coming from sales of sponsored products ads. Third-party sellers who hawk their wares on Amazon's marketplace have recently criticized surging advertising costs on the site, including a string of recent policy changes, which led to some top merchants withholding their ad spend in a boycott. The company has traditionally used a "second-price" auction system, wherein it told advertisers they "only pay the least bid amount needed in order to win," the complaint states, citing Amazon's own marketing materials.

>

> The FTC alleges in its complaint that Amazon in 2019 changed its auction rules without notice by adding an undisclosed surcharge it referred to as a "soft reserve price," which led to higher ad prices. "Amazon made this surreptitious change to its auction because it was unhappy about how much revenue its advertising auctions were generating," the agency said in its complaint, which cites internal communications between Amazon ad executives. In one exchange, a company executive allegedly acknowledged it uses an "invented auction participant" to increase prices, the FTC said. The FTC and the states alleged Amazon's practices violate federal and state consumer protection laws, and they're seeking civil penalties, restitution and other unspecified damages.

In a [3]blog post , Amazon called the FTC's lawsuit "misguided" and said the complaint "fundamentally misunderstands how advertisers operate." The company added that the agency's lawsuit doesn't include evidence of consumer price increases.

"We've provided advertisers with guidance about our auctions and pricing in the main tools they use to manage their campaigns, and we continue to update that guidance," the company said. "We look forward to making our case in court."



[1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/08/ftc-states-sue-amazon-over-secret-ad-surcharge-scheme

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/31/amazon-ftc-lawsuit-advertisers.html

[3] https://www.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-ftc-sponsored-ads-lawsuit-response

According to [1]The Information (paywalled), Apple reportedly moved up the [2]release of new Mac mini and Mac Studio models after [3]unexpectedly strong enterprise demand for Macs capable of running AI workloads . MacRumors reports:

> Apple normally releases new Mac models in the autumn, closer to October or November, making this week's announcement unusually early, falling just before the anticipated arrival of new iPhone models. The Information says that the AI-driven boom in Mac Studio and Mac mini sales is behind the early launch. Apple noticeably promoted the ability to link multiple Mac Studios together into a single, more capable system for running large frontier AI models, a feature aimed at business and developer customers rather than everyday consumers.

>

> Apple highlighted the Mac mini and Mac Studio's shift toward business buyers in June, with a "Business at the Park" event involving executives from major companies Ford, Disney, and Anthropic. The Mac mini was said to be the "darling" of the event. Even so, enterprise's rush toward powerful desktop Macs more broadly took Apple by surprise.

>

> The company reportedly did not possess an engineering team dedicated to business customers or staff focused on developer relations, and lacked an enterprise AI strategy. Businesses that approached Apple asking to buy access to the company's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure were reportedly turned down. Apple is instead leaning on partners such as WebAI and Mount Thor, which provide AI tools and execution environments built on Apple hardware.



[1] https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-stumbled-ai-hardware-success-mac

[2] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/08/25/1553245/apple-announces-new-mac-mini-with-m6-and-m5-pro-chips

[3] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/30/apple-unexpected-mac-mini-and-studio-demand/

Broadcom is [1]launching "TrueSource," an effort to [2]curate and secure open-source components used with its Tanzu platform , including Spring, RabbitMQ, and libraries across Java, Python, and Node.js. "The idea is to provide a set of solutions focused on providing clean and secure artefacts," Purnima Padmanabhan, vice president of Broadcom's Tanzu Division, told The Register. "We choose and build every Spring library, databases, other Java components," she said. The Register reports:

> Padmanabhan said that promise means VMware will also provide "TrueSource trusted artifacts" for code that is not part of Spring, including the wider Java ecosystem, Python, and Node.js. "Broadcom's curation process ensures that the libraries conform to a reference architecture and are supportable by the maintainers of record," according to a company statement. "Thousands of engineers across Broadcom's software divisions scan, fix, contribute to, and consume them every day."

>

> A VMware spokesperson told The Register the Broadcom business unit "will work with and support maintainers on open source software and we will provide fixes to open source upstream for any active projects." "With Spring and RabbitMQ, we are the maintainers. For other open source software, we will work with the maintainers. We believe that the community maintainers must remain the source of truth," the spokesperson said.

>

> This is just the sort of contribution that the open-source community wants vendors to do to reflect the value they extract from software they did not create alone. It's also the sort of thing vendors sometimes conclude they need to do to keep products based on FOSS viable.



[1] https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-strengthens-spring-security-and-adds-coverage-java

[2] https://www.theregister.com/virtualization/2026/08/31/broadcom-pledges-to-lock-down-open-source-python-java-libraries/5293454

Kalshi has [1]issued its first-ever lifetime ban to former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding he failed to fully cooperate with an insider-trading investigation. He is also being fined $71,356, according to [2]a filing (PDF) on its website. Engadget reports:

> It was reported in June that Santos was under investigation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over insider trading. Prediction markets like Kalshi allow users to buy contracts or shares in the outcome of events. Participants don't necessarily have to wait for an event to resolve before selling these contracts and cashing in.

>

> Santos allegedly bought contracts on Kalshi indicating that he would not attend this year's State of the Union speech after weather disrupted his travel plans. According to the CFTC, Santos then sold those contracts for a profit after claiming on social media that he would be in attendance. The former congressman is said to have made more than $17,500 through this scheme, which Kalshi reportedly detected and flagged to authorities. In July, Santos [3]agreed to pay over $35,000 to settle the CFTC's claims against him. The agency also issued him a three-year trading ban.

>

> Kalshi, however, doesn't plan to allow Santos back on its platform in 2029 (or anytime after that). The company confirmed to [4]The Wall Street Journal this was the first time it had given anyone a lifetime ban and that it did so because Santos didn't fully cooperate with its investigation. He can appeal the decision to the CTFC.



[1] https://www.engadget.com/2247629/kalshi-dishes-out-its-first-ever-lifetime-ban-to-george-santos/

[2] https://kalshi-public-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/regulatory/notices/KDA-2026-0006%20Santos%20Notice%20of%20Disciplinary%20Action.docx.pdf

[3] https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9276-26

[4] https://www.wsj.com/politics/ex-congressman-george-santos-receives-kalshis-first-ever-lifetime-ban-b50eeaf1