Submission + - Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 10 40TB tape cartridge arrives in the US (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Fujifilm has introduced its LTO Ultrium 10 40TB data cartridge in the United States, offering 40TB of native capacity and up to 100TB with compression. While tape storage might sound like a relic from the past, the format continues to evolve and remains widely used for long term archival storage. The new cartridge supports transfer speeds up to 400MB/s natively and integrates with existing LTO 10 tape drives, allowing organizations to expand storage without replacing existing infrastructure.

Tape remains attractive for certain workloads because it is inexpensive, energy efficient, and naturally air gapped when stored offline. That makes it appealing for large scale archives in industries such as media, finance, research, and healthcare. As AI systems generate massive datasets that must be retained for years, vendors like Fujifilm argue that magnetic tape still fills an important role alongside modern storage technologies.

Submission + - Scientists Engineered a Plant to Produce 5 Different Psychedelics at Once (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances â" and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.

In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.

Submission + - Google ChromeOS Flex USB Kit could rescue your old Windows laptop from the trash (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Google has teamed up with Back Market to launch the ChromeOS Flex USB Kit, a small $3 tool designed to breathe new life into aging laptops. Instead of throwing away an older computer that can no longer run modern versions of Windows, users can install ChromeOS Flex and turn it into a lightweight, secure web machine. The kit includes a reusable USB drive along with guides and tutorials to simplify the installation process for beginners. While ChromeOS Flex has been available as a free download for some time, this physical kit removes much of the technical barrier that might otherwise discourage everyday users from trying it.

Submission + - Brazil Builds Free Payment System; US Wonders If That's Allowed (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by Suripat
Suripat writes: Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix, has quickly changed how people handle money, making transfers free and nearly immediate. It’s become so widely used that cash and even card payments are losing ground. That success is now getting attention abroad, especially in the United States, where officials are looking into whether a government-backed system like Pix gives it an unfair edge over private payment companies. Supporters see it as efficient and accessible, while critics raise questions about competition. As Pix keeps growing, it’s starting to look less like a local innovation and more like something that could challenge established payment systems worldwide.

Submission + - Microsoft pulls faulty Windows 11 Update (techrepublic.com)

Submitted by Ol Olsoc
Ol Olsoc writes: Another Windows update has tripped over its own feet, and users are once again left staring at error screens instead of progress bars. Reports Tech Republic: https://www.techrepublic.com/a...

FTA: Microsoft has rolled back a recent non-security update after widespread installation failures. Designed to quietly improve performance and stability, it instead fails before it can even get off the ground. Unlike typical update issues that surface after installation, this one blocks users at the door, refusing to install or crashing midway through the process. For many, the result is a familiar frustration: a cryptic error message, stalled systems, and no clear path forward. Microsoft has since paused the rollout entirely while it investigates the issue, leaving users waiting for a fix instead of the improvements they were promised.

Submission + - Raspberry Pi 4 3GB Launches, Raspberry Pi Prices Go Up Again Due To RAM (phoronix.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Raspberry Pi prices are going up yet again due to the continued memory squeeze on the industry. To help offset the memory prices for some use-cases, Raspberry Pi also announced the introduction of the Raspberry Pi 4 3GB model at $83 to help fill the void between the 2GB and 4GB options.

The 3GB Raspberry Pi 4 was announced at $83.75 USD for those not needing quite 4GB of RAM and looking to save some memory given the ongoing price increases.

Submission + - The document foundation descends into chaos as biggest contributor to is ejected

Submitted by paulatz
paulatz writes: After a controversial vote in January, the board of the Document Foundation (TDF) changed its statute to substantially widen its definition of "affiliation". The entire staff of Collabora has now been expel from membership and from the board itself, including the board members that opposed the initial change. Collabora is an UK-based firm and the single largest contributor to the LibreOffice codebase, they continued the development of a rebranded version of LibreOffice Online when it was dropped by TDF in 2022. However, in 2026, TDF has revived the development of their web-based suite while Collabora is bringing its web-based suite to the desktop with a completely redesigned GUI.

After the fork from OpenOffice in 2010, it looks like the most popular open-source office suite is headed into a new period of strife.

Submission + - Study links falling for corporate buzzwords with poor decision-making (npr.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The study combed through shareholder reports and interviews with Fortune 500 business executives, and found examples of the nonsensical ways that Executives state things and phrase things in their messaging and public communications. Then used an algorithm that would create new sentences based on these structures that sounded like real speech. On about 1,000 different workers, the study tested to see whether or not they could tell the difference between real language and these absurd nonsensical statements. People that struggle with that the most tend to also struggle with decision-making in the workplace.

Submission + - Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Sneakily Backed By OpenAI (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OpenAI hasn’t been shy about spending money lobbying for favorable laws and regulations. But when it comes to its involvement with child safety advocacy groups, the company has apparently decided it’s best to stay in the shadows—even if it means hiding from the people actually pushing for policy changes. According to a report from the San Francisco Standard, a number of people involved in the California-based Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition were blindsided to learn their efforts were secretly being funded by OpenAI.

Per the Standard, the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition was a group formed to push the Parents and Kids Safe AI Act, a piece of California legislation proposed earlier this year that would require AI firms to implement age verification and additional safeguards for users under the age of 18. That bill was backed by OpenAI in partnership with Common Sense Media, which proposed the legislation as a compromise after the two groups had pushed dueling ballot initiatives last year.

But when the coalition started to reach out to child safety groups and other advocacy organizations to try to get them to lend support to the bill, OpenAI was apparently conveniently left off the messaging. The AI giant was also left out of the marketing on the coalition’s website, according to the Standard. That reportedly led to a number of groups and individuals lending their support to the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition without realizing that they were aligning themselves with OpenAI. As it turns out, OpenAI isn’t just one of the members of the coalition; it is the group’s biggest funder. In fact, the Standard characterized the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition as being “entirely funded” by OpenAI. While it’s not clear exactly how much the company has funneled to this particular group, a Wall Street Journal report from January said OpenAI pledged $10 million to push the Parents and Kids Safe AI Act.

Submission + - Google tells Wear OS developers to go 64-bit or get blocked from the Play Store (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Google is pushing the smartwatch ecosystem further toward 64-bit. Starting September 15, 2026, Wear OS apps that include native code will need to ship both 32-bit and 64-bit versions or updates will be blocked from the Play Console. Existing 32-bit watches will still get compatible apps, so this mostly affects developers submitting new builds. For many apps written in Kotlin or Java the change may not require code updates, but developers still need to check their APKs since third party SDKs can quietly introduce native libraries. In other words, if you build for Wear OS, it is time to double check those binaries before the deadline hits.

Submission + - Cloudflare says WordPress is outdated and insecure, introduces EmDash CMS (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Cloudflare has introduced a new open source CMS called EmDash and is not being shy about its motivation. The company argues that WordPress, which still powers more than 40 percent of the web, is showing its age. In particular, Cloudflare says the WordPress plugin model creates a massive security surface because plugins run with broad access to a siteâ(TM)s database and filesystem. EmDash attempts to fix that by running plugins in isolated sandboxes with explicit permissions, so administrators can see exactly what a plugin is allowed to do before installing it.

The project is written entirely in TypeScript, built around serverless infrastructure, and uses Astro for frontend theming. Cloudflare also packed in features aimed at AI driven development, including a CLI and tools designed for AI agents to manage content and build plugins programmatically. EmDash is still very early software at version 0.1.0 preview, but the message is clear: Cloudflare believes the webâ(TM)s most popular CMS was designed for a very different era of hosting and development.

Submission + - Washington Post Announces Transition to 'Modern' All-GenAI Content Format 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Inspired in part by Amazon's success in using LLMs to eliminate the cost of Java programmers, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Wednesday announced that the Post is pivoting to a 'modern' all-GenAI content format. "Our HR AI agents are notifying our remaining journalists that their services are no longer needed and thanking them for creating past content that powers the AI models that are replacing them," added Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor.

It's the latest cost-cutting move at WaPo, which laid off more than 300 journalists in February as it closed its sports and books sections and fired all staff photographers, blaming the layoffs in part on "the rise of generative A.I." The move, Bezos explained, will also enable the Post to use GenAI-produced images to accompany its GenAI-produced news stories, eliminating the need to pay freelance photographers.

At the end of 2024, Mr. Bezos described the Post's struggles to cut costs and boost readership in an interview at a conference hosted by The New York Times: “We saved The Washington Post once, and we’re going to save it a second time,” he said at the time. "And now, thanks to the magic of Amazon Bedrock," Bezos said Wednesday in a zoom call from his $500 million yacht Koru (his home away from homes), "we're going to save it again."

Submission + - UFC-Que Choisir Takes Ubisoft to French Court Over The Crew Shutdown (reuters.com)

Submitted by Elektroschock
Elektroschock writes: When Ubisoft pulled the plug on The Crew’s servers without warning, players were left with a worthless game they’d already paid for. Now, consumer watchdog UFC-Que Choisir is fighting back, demanding gamers’ right to play regardless of publisher whims. Supported by the “Stop Killing Games” movement, this landmark case challenges unfair terms before the Créteil Judicial Court (Val-de-Marne near Paris), and aims to protect players from disappearing games.

Submission + - AI can clone open-source software in minutes (techspot.com)

Submitted by ZipNada
ZipNada writes: Two software researchers recently demonstrated how modern AI tools can reproduce entire open-source projects, creating proprietary versions that appear both functional and legally distinct. The partly-satirical demonstration shows how quickly artificial intelligence can blur long-standing boundaries between coding innovation, copyright law, and the open-source principles that underpin much of the modern internet.

In their presentation, Dylan Ayrey, founder of Truffle Security, and Mike Nolan, a software architect with the UN Development Programme, introduced a tool they call malus.sh. For a small fee, the service can "recreate any open-source project," generating what its website describes as "legally distinct code with corporate-friendly licensing. No attribution. No copyleft. No problems."

Submission + - AMD says it will buy Intel (techspot.com)

Submitted by ZipNada
ZipNada writes: In a move that feels less like a corporate transaction and more like the final punchline to a 40-year industry rivalry, AMD announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Intel, the company it has spent decades chasing, imitating, undercutting, suing, licensing from, and lately outperforming.

The all-stock transaction, which AMD described as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to unify x86 innovation," would combine the two companies under a single umbrella just a few years after such an outcome would have sounded ridiculous.

For most of modern computing history, Intel was the empire and AMD the scrappy survivor, the perpetual second source that somehow kept finding ways to stay alive. Now, after a bruising run of manufacturing delays, product stumbles, strategic resets, and a historic reversal in investor confidence, Intel is poised to be absorbed by the smaller company it long treated as a footnote.

Submission + - OnlyOffice kills Nextcloud partnership for forking its project without approval (neowin.net)

Submitted by darwinmac
darwinmac writes: OnlyOffice has suspended its partnership with Nextcloud after the latter forked its editors into a new project called "Euro-Office," according to a report from Neowin. The move comes just days after Nextcloud and partners like IONOS announced the fork as part of a broader push for European digital sovereignty.

In a statement, the company accused the project of violating its licensing terms and international intellectual property law, claiming that Euro-Office uses its technology without proper compliance. OnlyOffice also pointed to missing attribution requirements and branding obligations tied to its AGPL-based licensing model.

As a result, its 8-year-old partnership, which allowed "Nextcloud users to edit and collaborate on office documents right inside their own instance," has been suspended. OnlyOffice also accused Nextcloud of not behaving in a manner expected of a partner, alleging attempts to poach its employees and influence customers against the company.

Nextcloud said it forked the OnlyOffice repository instead of collaborating with the company because the project is notoriously difficult to contribute to. It also pointed out that OnlyOffice is a Russian company with Russian employees who leave code comments in Russian. In addition to that, some users may feel uncomfortable using software that could be linked to the Russian government.

Submission + - COMMAND.COM is back!

Submitted by kevin lyda
kevin lyda writes: Microsoft's best try at an operating system, COMMAND.COM from MS-DOS 3.3, is now a native shell for Unix-like systems.

The project recreates the DOS command-line experience while running on a modern Unix environment. It supports a small, historically inspired command set, .BAT-style scripting, and even maps DOS concepts like drive letters onto the Unix filesystem. You can even experience the joy of editing a CONFIG.SYS file (this time as an INI style file).

Unlike a simple emulator, it’s designed to work as a real shell: it can be used as a login shell or as an interpreter for batch files (within reason, given the differences between DOS and Unix semantics). The result is an unusual hybrid of DOS-style command parsing layered on top of Unix processes.

It’s implemented in Go for maximum portability and aims to balance authenticity with just enough practicality to be usable.

Source and release on codeberg.

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