Just days after federal data revealed average reading, math and science scores dropped among certain grades since before the coronavirus pandemic, a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday [1]picked apart the root causes and methods for students' academic improvement . From a report:

> The hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions centered on the "state of K-12 education" -- which GOP members on the committee described as "troubling" -- in light of recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP.

>

> NAEP, regarded as the gold standard for tracking students' academic performance, showed that average science scores for eighth-graders decreased by 4 points since before the pandemic, in 2019. Average math and reading scores for 12th-graders also fell 3 points between 2019 and 2024. The assessments were administered between January and March of 2024. Results also showed that just one-third of 12th-graders are considered academically prepared for college in math -- a drop from 37% in 2019.

>

> The committee's chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy, said "it should concern us that children's reading, math and science scores have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels." The Louisiana Republican added that "success in education is not determined by how much we spend, but by who makes the decision and how wisely resources are directed," and "when states and local communities are empowered to tailor solutions to meet the unique needs of students, innovation follows." On the other hand, Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the panel, said that "while we focus on education -- as important as that is -- we also have to focus on the conditions under which our children are living."



[1] https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/09/19/repub/decline-in-k-12-national-reading-math-science-scores-probed-by-us-senate-panel/

Gallup:

> A record-low 35% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of education that K-12 students receive in the U.S. today, [1]marking an eight-percentage-point decline since last year . This is one point below the previous historical low recorded in 2000 and 2023 for this Gallup question that dates back to 1999.

>

> Several other ratings of the U.S. K-12 education system provide a similarly bleak assessment. Only about one-quarter of Americans think K-12 schools are headed in the right direction, while just one in five rate them as "excellent" or "good" at preparing students for today's jobs and one in three say the same for college.

>

> Yet, parents of current K-12 students are nearly twice as satisfied with their own child's education as they are with education in the U.S. K-12 parents are also slightly more likely than U.S. adults in general to rate different aspects of education positively, including the direction of education in the U.S. and schools' preparation of students for the workforce and for college. Still, none of these ratings is near the majority level.



[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/695174/record-low-satisfied-education-quality.aspx

Microsoft will increase Xbox Series X and Series S [1]console prices in the United States on October 3. The Series X rises to $649.99 from $599.99 and the 512GB Series S increases to $399.99 from $379.99. The 1TB Series S moves to $449.99 from $429.99. The Series X Digital Edition reaches $599.99 from $549.99 and the 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition climbs to $799.99 from $729.99. Microsoft cited macroeconomic changes for the increases. Console prices outside the US and controller and headset prices domestically remain unchanged. The company raised console [2]prices globally in May .



[1] https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/console/may-2025-pricing-updates

[2] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/05/01/143211/microsoft-hikes-xbox-console-prices-by-up-to-100-games-to-hit-80

The Leon Thevenin, Africa's only permanently stationed cable repair ship, [1]maintains over 60,000 kilometers of undersea internet infrastructure from Madagascar to Ghana. The 43-year-old vessel employs a 60-person crew who perform precision repairs on fiber-optic cables that carry data for Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon -- companies that consumed 3.6 billion megabits per second of bandwidth in 2023.

Operating costs range from $70,000 to $120,000 daily, according to owner Orange Marine. The ship has experienced increased demand due to unusual underwater landslides in the Congo Canyon causing frequent cable breaks. Cable jointer Shuru Arendse and his team spend up to 48 hours on repairs that require fusing hair-thin glass fibers in conditions where a speck of dust can ruin the joint. The vessel gained Starlink connectivity last year after decades of relying on satellite phones and shared computers for crew communication. Sixty-two cable repair ships operate globally to maintain the infrastructure supporting streaming media and AI applications.



[1] https://restofworld.org/2025/africa-internet-cable-repair-ship/

Meta is moving to [1]break into the wholesale power-trading business to better manage the massive electricity needs of its data centers. Bloomberg:

> The company, which owns Facebook, filed an application with US regulators this week seeking authorization to do so. A Meta representative said it was a natural next step to participate in energy markets as it looks to power operations with clean energy.

>

> Buying electricity has become an increasingly urgent challenge for technology companies including Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet's Google. They're all racing to develop more advanced artificial intelligence systems and tools that are notoriously resource-intensive. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are already active power traders, according to filings with US regulators.



[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-pushes-power-trading-ai-142646215.html

An analysis of tens of thousands of research-paper submissions has shown a dramatic increase in the presence of text generated using AI in the past few years, an academic publisher has found. Nature:

> The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) found that 23% of abstracts in manuscripts and 5% of peer-review reports submitted to its journals in 2024 contained text that was [1]probably generated by large language models (LLMs). The publishers also found that less than 25% of authors disclosed their use of AI to prepare manuscripts, despite the publisher mandating disclosure for submission.

>

> To screen manuscripts for signs of AI use, the AACR used an AI tool that was developed by Pangram Labs, based in New York City. When applied to 46,500 abstracts, 46,021 methods sections and 29,544 peer-review comments submitted to 10 AACR journals between 2021 and 2024, the tool flagged a rise in suspected AI-generated text in submissions and review reports since the public release of OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT, in November 2022.



[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02936-6

Chinese consumer tech giant Xiaomi will [1]remotely fix a flaw in the assisted driving system on over 110,000 of its popular SU7 electric cars, the firm and regulators said Friday, months after a deadly crash involving the model. From a report:

> China's tech companies and automakers have poured billions of dollars into smart-driving technology, a new battleground in the country's cutthroat domestic car market. But Beijing has moved to tighten safety rules after a Xiaomi SU7 in assisted driving mode crashed and killed three college students this year. It also raised concerns over the advertising of cars as being capable of autonomous driving. On Friday, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Xiaomi's highway assisted driving system showed insufficient recognition, warning and handling ability in some extreme driving conditions.



[1] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/world/20250919/chinas-xiaomi-to-remotely-fix-assisted-driving-flaw-in-110000-su7-cars

US wholesale electricity prices have [1]nearly doubled since 2020 , rising faster than consumer rates across most regional grid operators. Analysis of location marginal pricing data from 17 trading hubs shows average wholesale costs increased from baseline 2020 levels to peaks 2-4 times higher by 2022, before partially recovering. Consumer electricity prices rose 35% during the same period.

Transmission congestion spreads are widening in most Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organizations, particularly in PJM, SPP, and NYISO, where bottlenecks increasingly prevent access to cheaper generation. California's CAISO stands alone among major grid operators as wholesale prices remain flat or decline in 2025 despite natural gas volatility. The cheapest wholesale electricity continues to trade in SPP's Oklahoma-Kansas region at $16-17 per megawatt-hour.



[1] https://www.construction-physics.com/p/whats-happening-to-wholesale-electricity

[1]alternative_right writes:

> Austria's armed forces have switched from Microsoft's Office programs [2]to the open-source LibreOffice package . The reason for this is not to save on software license fees for around 16,000 workstations. "It was very important for us to show that we are doing this primarily (...) to strengthen our digital sovereignty, to maintain our independence in terms of ICT infrastructure and (...) to ensure that data is only processed in-house," emphasizes Michael Hillebrand from the Austrian Armed Forces' Directorate 6 ICT and Cyber.

>

> This is because processing data in external clouds is out of the question for the Austrian Armed Forces, as Hillebrand explained on ORF radio station O1. It was already apparent five years ago that Microsoft Office would move to the cloud. Back then, in 2020, the decision-making process for the switch began and was completed in 2021.



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

[2] https://www.heise.de/en/news/Austria-s-armed-forces-switch-to-LibreOffice-10660761.html

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> JM Video, one of only two remaining DVD rental stores in Paris, is a focal point for film lovers and visited by actors like Brad Pitt when they are in the city, but the ever-growing competition of streaming platforms means this Paris institution is fighting for survival. Choice is not the problem: JM Video has a library of more than 50,000 films, more than some 5,000 on offer at any time on Netflix and more than the catalogues of all the major streaming actors combined. "It's one of the few places in Paris with a real film collection, you can find things here that you cannot find anywhere else," said movie buff Virginie Breton, who rents DVDs several times a week. But [1]not enough to keep JM Video afloat .

>

> Sky-high Paris property rents and a dwindling customer base, combined with the arrival of ever-more streaming services like Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Apple TV+ are squeezing the life out of the cave-like shop, where DVDs spill out from floor-to-ceiling racks. Founded in 1982, JM Video was one of around 5,000 video rental shops in France at the end of last century, well before Netflix switched from being a DVD rental outfit to a streaming pioneer around 2010. Now, France has only about 10 DVD rental shops, two of which are in Paris.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/paris-dvd-rental-store-last-stand-against-streaming-giants-2025-09-19/

Valve is dropping support for Steam running on 32-bit versions of Windows, [1]starting January 1, 2026 . A report adds and comments:

> Steam has been available on Windows for more than two decades and, therefore, was built with 32-bit systems in mind. Today, every modern computer is 64-bit, with compatibility layers built in to support older 32-bit apps. So, even though 32-bit apps have carried forward, there's really no place for 32-bit operating systems anymore -- which is why Valve is axing support for them.



[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/valve-to-drop-steam-support-for-32-bit-windows-versions-next-year-says-its-no-longer-compatible-with-core-client-features-only-0-01-percent-of-players-actually-used-it

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> SoftBank Group will [1]lay off nearly 20% of its Vision Fund team globally as it shifts resources to founder Masayoshi Son's large-scale AI bets in the United States, according to a memo seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the plan. The cuts mark the third round of layoffs at the Japanese investment conglomerate's flagship fund since 2022. Vision Fund currently has over 300 employees globally. Unlike previous rounds, when the group was saddled with major losses, the latest reductions come after the fund last month reported its strongest quarterly performance since June 2021, driven by gains in public holdings such as Nvidia and South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang. The move signals a pivot away from a broad portfolio of startup investments. While the fund will continue to make new bets, remaining staff will dedicate more resources to Son's ambitious AI initiatives, such as the proposed $500 billion Stargate project -- an initiative to build a vast network of U.S. data centers in partnership with OpenAI, the source added.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/softbank-vision-fund-lay-off-20-employees-shift-bold-ai-bets-source-memo-say-2025-09-18/

Security researcher Dirk-jan Mollema discovered two vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Entra ID identity platform that could have granted [1]attackers administrative access to virtually all Azure customer accounts worldwide. The flaws involved legacy authentication systems -- Actor Tokens issued by Azure's Access Control Service and a validation failure in the retiring Azure Active Directory Graph API.

Mollema reported the vulnerabilities to Microsoft on July 14. Microsoft released a global fix three days later and found no evidence of exploitation. The vulnerabilities would have allowed attackers to impersonate any user across any Azure tenant and access all Microsoft services using Entra ID authentication. Microsoft confirmed the fixes were fully implemented by July 23 and added additional security measures in August as part of its Secure Future Initiative. The company issued a CVE on September 4.



[1] https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-entra-id-vulnerability-digital-catastrophe/

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Microsoft is adding a whole load of AI agents to Teams today, [1]promising Copilot assistants for every channel, meeting, and community . The new agents will also work across SharePoint and Viva Engage, and are rolling out for Microsoft 365 Copilot users.

>

> Facilitator agents will now sit in on Teams meetings, creating agendas, taking notes, and answering questions. Agents can also suggest time allotments for different meeting topics -- letting participants know if they're running over -- and create documents and tasks. A mobile version is designed to be activated "with a single tap" so you can make sure the agent doesn't miss out on "a quick hallway chat or a spontaneous in-person sync." Channel agents are designed to answer questions based on a channel's previous conversations and meetings and can also generate status reports for a project the same way.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/781278/microsoft-teams-copilot-ai-agents

China's economy increasingly relies on 200 million "flexible workers" who [1]lack formal employment contracts, pensions and urban residency permits despite comprising 25% of the national workforce and 40% of urban workers. The demographic includes 40 million day-wage factory workers and 84 million platform economy workers performing deliveries and ride-share driving. Factory gig workers average 26 years old, are 80% male, and 75-80% single and childless. These workers face systemic exclusions from urban benefits including healthcare, schooling and property ownership due to lacking urban hukou residency permits.

China's Supreme Court ruled in August that workers can claim compensation from employers denying benefits, though enforcement mechanisms remain unclear. Economic data shows retail sales growth at yearly lows, continuing property price declines, and rising urban unemployment. Analysts project GDP growth potentially falling to 3% in the third quarter. Manufacturing hubs report increasing numbers of young workers sleeping in parks and under overpasses between temporary jobs.



[1] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/09/18/chinas-future-rests-on-200m-precarious-workers

If you're wondering what effect Intel's [1]blockbuster deal with Nvidia will have on its existing product roadmaps, Intel has one message for you: [2]it won't . PCWorld:

> "We're not discussing specific roadmaps at this time, but the collaboration is complementary to Intel's roadmap and Intel will continue to have GPU product offerings," an Intel spokesman told my colleague, Brad Chacos, earlier today. I heard similar messaging from other Intel representatives.

>

> Nvidia's $5 billion investment in Intel, as well as Nvidia's plans to supply RTX graphics chiplets to Intel for use in Intel's CPUs, have two major potential effects: first, it could rewrite Intel's mobile roadmap for laptop chips, because of the additional capabilities provided by those RTX chiplets. Second, the move threatens Intel's ongoing development of its Arc graphics cores, including standalone discrete GPUs as well as integrated chips. We're still not convinced that Arc's future will be left unscathed, in part because Intel's claim that it will "continue" to have GPU product offerings sounds a bit wishy-washy. But Intel sounds much more definitive on the former point, in that the mobile roadmap that you're familiar with will remain in place.



[1] https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/18/1226210/nvidia-to-invest-5-billion-in-intel

[2] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2913872/intel-nvidia-deal-doesnt-change-its-roadmap.html

Google has added Gemini features to Chrome for all desktop users in the US browsing in English following a limited release to paying subscribers in May. The update introduces a Gemini button in the browser that launches a chatbot capable of [1]answering questions about page content and synthesizing information from multiple tabs . Users can remove the Gemini sparkle icon from Chrome's interface.

Google will add its AI Mode search feature to Chrome's address bar before September ends. The feature will suggest prompts based on webpage content but won't replace standard search functionality. Chrome on Android already includes Gemini features. The company plans to add agentic capabilities in coming months that would allow Gemini to perform tasks like adding items to online shopping carts by controlling the browser cursor.



[1] https://blog.google/products/chrome/chrome-reimagined-with-ai/

The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from seven states filed an 84-page lawsuit Thursday in federal court in California against Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster subsidiary. The suit alleges the companies knowingly [1]allow ticket brokers to use multiple accounts to circumvent purchase limits and acquire thousands of tickets per event for resale at higher prices.

The FTC claims this practice violates the Better Online Ticket Sales Act and generates hundreds of millions in revenue through a "triple dip" fee structure -- collecting fees on initial broker purchases, then from both brokers and consumers on secondary market sales. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson cited President Trump's March executive order requiring federal protection against ticketing practices. The lawsuit arrives one month after the FTC sued Maryland broker Key Investment Group [2]over Taylor Swift tour price-gouging and follows the Department of Justice's 2024 monopoly suit against Live Nation.



[1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-sues-live-nation-ticketmaster-engaging-illegal-ticket-resale-tactics-deceiving-artists-consumers

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/08/19/0716252/us-ftc-sues-ticket-reseller-for-evading-taylor-swifts-eras-tour-ticket-limits

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> A software update rolling out to Samsung's Family Hub refrigerators in the US is [1]putting ads on the fridges for the first time. The "promotions and curated advertisements" are coming despite Samsung insisting to The Verge in April that it had "no plans" to do so. Samsung is calling it a pilot program for now, which -- I kid you not -- is meant to "strengthen the value" of owning a Samsung smart fridge.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/780757/samsung-brings-ads-to-us-fridges

Chinese AI developer DeepSeek said it [1]spent $294,000 on training its R1 model , much lower than figures reported for U.S. rivals, in [2]a paper that is likely to reignite debate over Beijing's place in the race to develop artificial intelligence. Reuters:

> The rare update from the Hangzhou-based company -- the first estimate it has released of R1's training costs -- appeared in a peer-reviewed article in the academic journal Nature published on Wednesday.

>

> DeepSeek's release of what it said were lower-cost AI systems in January prompted global investors to dump tech stocks as they worried the new models could threaten the dominance of AI leaders including Nvidia. Since then, the company and founder Liang Wenfeng have largely disappeared from public view, apart from pushing out a few new product updates.

>

> [...] The Nature article, which listed Liang as one of the co-authors, said DeepSeek's reasoning-focused R1 model cost $294,000 to train and used 512 Nvidia H800 chips. Sam Altman, CEO of U.S. AI giant OpenAI, said in 2023 that what he called "foundational model training" had cost "much more" than $100 million - though his company has not given detailed figures for any of its releases.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-deepseek-says-its-hit-ai-model-cost-just-294000-train-2025-09-18/

[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03015-6