Toyota is fast-tracking its long-promised all-solid-state EV batteries through a [1]new partnership with Sumitomo Metal Mining, aiming to debut its [2]first production vehicle using the technology by 2027 or 2028 . Electrek reports:

> Toyota said that its new batteries could significantly enhance driving range, charging times, and output, potentially transforming the future of automobiles. Compared to current liquid-based batteries, which use electrolyte solutions, Toyota's all-solid-state batteries utilize a cathode, an anode, and a solid electrolyte. According to Toyota, the next-gen battery tech "offers the potential for smaller size, higher output, and longer life."

>

> The two companies have been developing cathode materials for all-solid-state EV batteries since 2021, focusing on some of the biggest challenges in producing them at a mass scale. Using Sumitomo Metal Mining's proprietary powder synthesis technology, Toyota claimed to have developed a "highly durable cathode material" for all-solid-state batteries. Sumitomo has been supplying cathode materials for electric vehicles for years, but it's now working to introduce the newly developed tech, moving it toward mass production.



[1] https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/43380876.html

[2] https://electrek.co/2025/10/08/toyota-aims-to-launch-worlds-first-all-solid-state-ev-batteries/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity:

> The world's largest and most disruptive botnet is now drawing a majority of its firepower from compromised Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices hosted on U.S. Internet providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, new evidence suggests. Experts say the heavy concentration of infected devices at U.S. providers is complicating efforts to limit collateral damage from the botnet's attacks, which shattered previous records this week with a brief traffic flood that clocked in at nearly 30 trillion bits of data per second.

>

> Since its debut more than a year ago, the Aisuru botnet has steadily outcompeted virtually all other IoT-based botnets in the wild, with recent attacks siphoning Internet bandwidth from an estimated 300,000 compromised hosts worldwide. The hacked systems that get subsumed into the botnet are mostly consumer-grade routers, security cameras, digital video recorders and other devices operating with insecure and outdated firmware, and/or factory-default settings. Aisuru's owners are continuously scanning the Internet for these vulnerable devices and enslaving them for use in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that can overwhelm targeted servers with crippling amounts of junk traffic.

>

> As Aisuru's size has mushroomed, so has its punch. In May 2025, KrebsOnSecurity was hit with a [1]near-record 6.35 terabits per second (Tbps) attack from Aisuru, which was then the largest assault that Google's DDoS protection service Project Shield had ever mitigated. Days later, Aisuru shattered that record with a data blast in excess of 11 Tbps. By late September, Aisuru was publicly flexing DDoS capabilities [2]topping 22 Tbps . Then on October 6, its operators heaved a whopping 29.6 terabits of junk data packets each second at a targeted host. Hardly anyone noticed because it appears to have been a brief test or demonstration of Aisuru's capabilities: The traffic flood lasted less only a few seconds and was pointed at an Internet server that was specifically designed to measure large-scale DDoS attacks.

>

> Aisuru's overlords aren't just showing off. Their botnet is being blamed for a series of increasingly massive and disruptive attacks. Although recent assaults from Aisuru have targeted mostly ISPs that serve online gaming communities like Minecraft, those digital sieges often result in widespread collateral Internet disruption. For the past several weeks, ISPs hosting some of the Internet's top gaming destinations have been [3]hit with a relentless volley of gargantuan attacks that experts say are well beyond the DDoS mitigation capabilities of most organizations connected to the Internet today.



[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/20/2215258/krebsonsecurity-hit-with-near-record-63-tbps-ddos

[2] https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/09/24/2010227/record-breaking-ddos-attack-peaks-at-22-tbps-and-10-bpps

[3] https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/10/ddos-botnet-aisuru-blankets-us-isps-in-record-ddos/

OpenAI and Sur Energy have signed a letter of intent to [1]build a $25 billion, 500-megawatt data center in Argentina , marking OpenAI's first major infrastructure project in Latin America. The "Stargate Argentina" initiative is backed by Argentina's RIGI tax incentives and positioned as "one of the largest technology and energy infrastructure initiatives" in the nation's history.

"We are proud to announce plans to launch Stargate Argentina, an exciting new infrastructure project in partnership with one of the country's leading energy companies, Sur Energy," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media. Altman added that the region was "full of talent, creativity and ambition."



[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/openai-sur-energy-weigh-25-billion-argentina-data-center-project-2025-10-10/

Lyft is teaming up with Tensor Auto to [1]launch hundreds of AI-powered "Robocars" across Europe and North America starting in 2027. Bloomberg reports:

> Tensor Robocars, the first deliveries of which are planned in late 2026, have more than 100 sensors including cameras, lidars and radars, and processes sensor data with artificial intelligence technology powered by Nvidia Corp. chips on board. The vehicles will come from the manufacturer with Lyft's platform installed, which will allow owners to make money on the rideshare network in markets where level 4 autonomous technology is available, according to the joint statement. Lyft has reserved hundreds of Robocars via its affiliates for its own fleet operations, subject to regulatory approvals.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/lyft-plans-fleet-of-hundreds-of-tensor-robocars-from-2027/ar-AA1O9EKd

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CSO Online:

> On Sept. 17, security vendor SonicWall announced that cybercriminals had stolen backup files configured for cloud backup. At the time, the company claimed the incident was limited to "less than five percent" of its customers. Now, the firewall provider has admitted that " [1]all customers" using the MySonicWall cloud backup feature were affected . According to the company, the stolen files contain encrypted credentials and configuration data. "[W]hile encryption remains in place, possession of these files could increase the risk of targeted attacks," SonicWall warns in its [2]press release .

>

> Security specialist Arctic Wolf also [3]warns of the consequences of the incident. "Firewall configuration files store sensitive information that can be leveraged by threat actors to exploit and gain access to an organization's network," explains Stefan Hostetler, threat intelligence researcher at Arctic Wolf. "These files can provide threat actors with critical information such as user, group, and domain settings, DNS and log settings, and certificates," he adds. Arctic Wolf has previously observed threat actors, including nation-state and ransomware groups, exfiltrating firewall configuration files to use for future attacks.

SonicWall urges all customers and partners to regularly check their devices for updates. Admins can find additional information [4]here .



[1] https://www.csoonline.com/article/4070992/data-leak-at-sonicwall-affects-all-cloud-backup-customers.html

[2] https://www.sonicwall.com/support/knowledge-base/mysonicwall-cloud-backup-file-incident/250915160910330

[3] https://arcticwolf.com/resources/blog/sonicwall-concludes-investigation-incident-affecting-mysonicwall-configuration-backup-files/

[4] https://www.sonicwall.com/support/knowledge-base/remediation-playbook/250916130050523

[1]smooth wombat writes:

> At one point in technology history, floppy disks reigned supreme. Files, pictures, games, everything was put on a floppy disk. But technology doesn't stand still and as time went on disks were replaced by CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, and now cloud storage. Despite these changes, floppy disks are still found in long forgotten corners of businesses or stuffed in boxs in the attic. What is on these disks is anyone's guess, but [2]Cambridge University Library is racing against time to preserve the data . However, lack of hardware and software to read the disks, if they're readable at all, poses unique challenges.

>

> Some of the world's most treasured documents can be found deep in the archives of Cambridge University Library. There are letters from Sir Isaac Newton, notebooks belonging to Charles Darwin, rare Islamic texts and the Nash Papyrus -- fragments of a sheet from 200BC containing the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew.

>

> These rare, and often unique, manuscripts are safely stored in climate-controlled environments while staff tenderly care for them to prevent the delicate pages from crumbling and ink from flaking away.

>

> But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices -- floppy disks.

>

> They were the result of Hawking's early adoption of the personal computer, which he was able to use despite having a form of motor neurone disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, thanks to modifications and software. Locked inside these disks could be all kinds of forgotten information or previously unknown insights into the scientists' life. The archivists' minds boggled.

>

> These disks are now part of a project at Cambridge University Library to rescue hidden knowledge trapped on floppy disks. The Future Nostalgia project reflects a larger trend in the information flooding into archives and libraries around the world.



[1] https://slashdot.org/~smooth+wombat

[2] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks

Australia's Queensland state government said on Friday it would run coal power plants [1]at least into the 2040s , reversing a previous plan to pivot rapidly to renewables and in turn making national emissions reduction targets harder to achieve. From a report:

> The centre-right Liberal National Party won last year's election in Queensland, a huge chunk of land in Australia's northeast where more than 60% of electricity comes from coal-fired plants that are mostly owned by the state.



[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/australias-queensland-reverses-policy-pledges-054614515.html

A new book, by Wall Street Journal reporter Saabira Chaudhuri, traces how disposability [1]became a deliberate business strategy rather than an accidental consequence of modern commerce. The book, titled "Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic," emerged from her reporting on how plastic bottles transformed bottled water from an occasional restaurant treat into an everyday staple.

Excerpts from a Bloomberg story: After World War II, the plastics industry made a conscious pivot. Lloyd Stouffer, an industry figure, openly said plastics should move from durable goods to disposables because companies make more money selling something a thousand times than once. The industry sold consumers on hygiene, convenience, modernity and easier household management. McDonald's dropped polystyrene clamshells in the late 1980s under activist pressure but simply swapped one single-use product for another.

Paper containers still cannot be recycled well once food soaks in. The old diaper-service model disappeared. Companies collected, washed and returned cloth diapers like the milkman, but plastics helped kill that business model. Chaudhuri argues companies built their businesses on disposability and will not change unless regulation forces everyone to move together. Executives admit that if they launch a reusable product but competitors do not, they lose market share and face shareholder backlash. Packaging standardization would improve recycling economics. Colored plastics like red shampoo bottles cannot be recycled in a closed loop and are down-cycled into gray products like pipes.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-10/how-plastic-goods-took-over-the-world-creating-a-throwaway-culture

Google is introducing a new Chrome browser feature for Android and desktop users that automatically [1]turns off notifications for websites that you're already ignoring . From a report:

> Chrome's Safety Check feature already provides similar functionality for camera access and location tracking permissions.

>

> This new auto-revocation feature builds on a similar Android feature that already makes it easier for Chrome users to unsubscribe from website notifications they don't care about with a single tap. The feature doesn't revoke notifications for any web apps installed on the device, and permissions will only be disabled for sites that send a lot of notifications that users rarely engage with. Less than one percent of all web notifications in Chrome currently receive any interaction from users, according to Google, often making them more distracting than helpful.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/798122/google-chrome-website-notifications-disable-feature

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Control of NSO Group is set to leave Israeli hands. A group of American investors led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds has [1]agreed to acquire the controversial spyware developer in a deal valued at several tens of millions of dollars. The transaction is expected to be signed in the coming days, though its completion will require approval from Israel's Defense Export Control Agency (DECA) at the Ministry of Defense.

>

> Since March 2023, NSO's shares have been held by a Luxembourg-based holding company wholly owned by founder Omri Lavie. The company's lender syndicate, which had extended roughly $500 million in loans to finance a share buyback from the private equity fund Francisco Partners, transferred ownership to Lavie following the restructuring.



[1] https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1jgvmitgx

Apple is updating its Security Bounty program this November to [1]offer some of the highest rewards in the industry . From a report:

> It has doubled its top award from $1 million to $2 million for the discovery of "exploit chains that can achieve similar goals as sophisticated mercenary spyware attacks" and which requires no user interaction. But the maximum possible payout can exceed $5 million dollars for the discovery of more critical vulnerabilities, such as bugs in beta software and Lockdown Mode bypasses. Lockdown Mode is an upgraded security architecture in the Safari browser.

>

> In addition, the company is rewarding the discovery of exploit chains with one-click user interaction with up to $1 million instead of just $250,000. The reward for attacks requiring physical proximity to devices can now also go up to $1 million, up from $250,000, while the maximum reward for attacks requiring physical access to locked devices has been doubled to $500,000. Finally, researchers "who demonstrate chaining WebContent code execution with a sandbox escape can receive up to $300,000."



[1] https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-doubles-its-biggest-bug-bounty-reward-to-2-million-102844667.html

US datacenters are experiencing a significant [1]shift toward coal-powered energy due to elevated natural gas prices and rapidly growing electricity demand. From a report:

> According to a research note from financial services firm Jefferies, datacenter operators are racing to connect new capacity to the electrical grid, with accelerated load growth expected during the 2026-2028 period. This spike in demand is driving an unexpected resurgence in coal generation, which has increased nearly 20 percent year-to-date.

>

> The research note, seen by The Register, states: "We raise our estimate for coal generation by ~11 percent (driven by higher capacity factors), and staying elevated through 2027 on favorable fuel pricing vs gas (particularly for existing fleet)." Warnings emerged last year that rising energy demand from the proliferation of data centers in the US risked outstripping available generation capacity, potentially extending the operational life of coal-fired power plants.

Further reading : [2]India Needs Coal For the Next Decade and Nobody Wants To Say It .



[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/10/datacenter_coal_power/

[2] https://indiadispatch.com/p/india-grid-cannot-keep-up-with-its-ambitions

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Poland's critical infrastructure has been [1]subject to a growing number of cyberattacks by Russia , whose military intelligence, has trebled its resources for such action against Poland this year, the country's digital affairs minister told Reuters. Of the 170,000 cyber incidents that have been identified in the first three quarters of this year, a significant portion has been attributed to Russian actors, while other cases are financially motivated, involving theft or other forms of cybercrime, Krzysztof Gawkowski said.

>

> He said Poland is a subject to between 2,000 and 4,000 incidents a day and that 700 to 1,000 are "taken up by us, meaning they posed a real threat or had the potential to cause serious problems," he said. Foreign adversaries are now expanding their focus beyond water and sewage systems to the energy sector, he said.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/poland-says-cyberattacks-critical-infrastructure-rising-blames-russia-2025-10-10/

Tata Consultancy Services made its steepest-ever job cuts as strained ties with the US and a rapid shift toward AI reshape the country's $280 billion IT services sector. From a report:

> India's biggest private-sector employer [1]cut 19,755 employees in the quarter ended Sept. 30 , according to the company's quarterly earnings presentation. That number includes staff fired by the company and people who left voluntarily. The number of employees at Asia's biggest IT outsourcer fell 3.2% from the previous quarter, dipping below 600,000 for the first time since since the year ended March 2022. The company made a provision of 11.35 billion rupees ($128 million) in the quarter for severance related costs.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-10/ai-push-drives-record-job-cuts-at-top-india-private-employer-tcs

A Meta executive in charge of building the company's metaverse products told employees that they [1]should be using AI to "go 5X faster," according to an internal message obtained by 404 Media. From the report:

> "Metaverse AI4P: Think 5X, not 5%," the message, posted by Vishal Shah, Meta's VP of Metaverse, said (AI4P is AI for Productivity). The idea is that programmers should be using AI to work five times more efficiently than they are currently working -- not just using it to go 5 percent more efficiently.

>

> "Our goal is simple yet audacious: make Al a habit, not a novelty. This means prioritizing training and adoption for everyone, so that using Al becomes second nature -- just like any other tool we rely on," the message read. "It also means integrating Al into every major codebase and workflow." Shah added that this doesn't just apply to engineers. I want to see PMs, designers, and [cross functional] partners rolling up their sleeves and building prototypes, fixing bugs, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible," he wrote.

>

> "I want to see us go 5X faster by eliminating the frictions that slow us down. And 5X faster to get to how our products feel much more quickly. Imagine a world where anyone can rapidly prototype an idea, and feedback loops are measured in hours -- not weeks. That's the future we're building."



[1] https://www.wired.com/story/meta-mark-zuckerberg-ai-push-metaverse/

Stephen Totilo, [1]reporting at Game File :

> In July of last year, word began to trickle through Ubisoft that an ambitious new installment of the company's top franchise, Assassin's Creed, had been cancelled.

>

> The new game would have brought the history-spanning series to one of its most modern settings: The American Civil War and, moreso, the Reconstruction period that followed in the 1860s and 1870s.

>

> In this Reconstruction-era Assassin's Creed, gamers would play as a Black man who had been formerly enslaved in the South and moved west to start a new life. Recruited by the series' Assassins, he would return to the South to fight for justice in a conflict that would, among other things, see him confront the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan.

>

> That's according to interviews with five current and former Ubisoft employees who spoke to Game File on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the project. The people were enthusiastic about the game but were also frustrated by its cancellation, which they perceived as Ubisoft bowing to controversy.



[1] https://www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubisoft-cancelled-a-post-civil

An anonymous reader [1]shares a report :

> Last week, Amazon launched a major update of its line of Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers and displays. The redesign -- led by former Microsoft design chief Ralf Groene, whom Amazon Devices & Services head Panos Panay coaxed out of retirement -- included two new Echo Show smart displays. According to Panay, these new models are the first step on a road to building "products that customers love."

>

> But there's one big barrier to customers loving their Echo Shows: ads. In recent months, full-screen display ads with the tag "sponsored" have been appearing on current Echo Shows, and users are not happy. They just started popping up on my device this week, and they are very intrusive, appearing between photos when the Show is set to Photo Frame mode or between content if it's set to show different categories (such as music, recipes, news). As I type, the last-gen Echo Show 8 on my desk showed an ad for an herbal supplement between a snapshot of my daughter dancing at her aunt's wedding and a baby picture of my son. The ad reappeared two photos later, and then again. And again.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/report/797672/amazon-echo-show-ads-alexa-plus

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters:

> OpenAI said on Thursday the arguments it presented to EU authorities last month mirrored its public statements about competition in the AI space, particularly in the context of antitrust investigations into Alphabet's Google. The ChatGPT-maker recently took its concerns to EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera, telling her office during a September 24 meeting about the difficulties it faces in competing with entrenched giants. It also [1]urged the regulators to prevent large platforms from locking in users , Bloomberg News reported earlier on Thursday, citing meeting notes. OpenAI said the European Commission was already examining how large, vertically integrated platforms were leveraging existing market positions into AI, including by reviewing specific intercompany agreements.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-flags-competition-concerns-eu-regulators-2025-10-09/

The Rubik's Cube has been [1]reimagined as a $299 tech gadget featuring 24 mini IPS screens, a gyroscope, accelerometer, speakers, and Bluetooth connectivity. Called the WOWCube, it runs its own "CubiOS" system, supports downloadable games and apps, and can transform into everything from a mini arcade to a virtual aquarium. Ars Technica reports:

> Rather than a solid-colored sticker, each of the toy's 24 squares is a 240x240 IPS display. The cube itself is composed of eight "cubicle modules," as Cubios, the company behind the toy, calls them. Each module includes three of those IPS screens and a dedicated SoC. [A Cubios [2]support page has additional details.] Each of the 24 displays can be set to show a solid color for solving a simpler, but still captivating, Rubik's puzzle. Alternatively, the screens can be twisted and turned to play dozens of different games, including Block Buster, Space Invaders, and Jewel Hunter.

>

> Also part of the toy is a gyroscope, 6-axis accelerometer, and eight speakers. Cubios claims the integrated battery can last for up to seven hours before needing a recharge. In order to add games or other apps to the WOWCube, you must download the WOWCube Connect iOS or Android app, pair the toy with your phone over Bluetooth, and then use the mobile app to download games onto the WOWCube. Currently, the WOWCube's online app store lists 47 games; some cost money to download, and some aren't available yet. The WOWCube runs its own operating system, dubbed CubiOS, and Cubios (the company) offers a [3]free DevKit . WOWCube attempts to bring additional functionality to Rubik's cubes with, as of this writing, nine [4]additional apps , including a timer and apps that make the toy look like an aquarium or snow globe, for instance.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/10/rubiks-cube-reimagined-as-a-multi-game-multi-screened-gadget-for-299/

[2] https://wowcube.com/support/

[3] https://wowcube.com/devkit/

[4] https://wowcube.com/store/category/apps

[1]fjo3 shares a report from the Washington Post:

> Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are [2]attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years . The company, [3]Terradot , is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean, where the carbon remains stored. The technique, known as " [4]enhanced rock weathering ," is emerging as a promising approach to lock away carbon on a massive scale. Some researchers estimate the method has the potential to sequester billions of tons of carbon, helping slow global climate trends. Other major projects are underway across the globe and have collectively raised over a quarter-billion dollars. [...]

>

> Terradot was founded in 2022 at Stanford, growing out of an independent study between James Kanoff, an undergraduate seeking large-scale carbon removal solutions, and Scott Fendorf, an Earth science professor. Terradot ran a pilot project across 250 hectares in Mexico and began operations in Brazil in late 2023. Since then, the company has spread about 100,000 tons of rock over 4,500 hectares. It has signed contracts to remove about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide and is backed by a who's who of Silicon Valley. It expects to deliver its first carbon removal credit -- representing one metric ton of verified carbon dioxide removed -- by the end of this year and then scale up from there.



[1] https://slashdot.org/~fjo3

[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/environmental-science/ar-AA1O4FrT

[3] https://terradot.earth/

[4] https://neg8carbon.com/enhanced-rock-weathering-how-it-works/