Two decades after the International Astronomical Union voted in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, a vocal group of scientists, historians and enthusiasts continue to push back against that decision. Critics like Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida argue the IAU's planetary definition is scientifically unworkable, while others such as writer Laurel Kornfeld have campaigned against the ruling since the day it was announced. The dispute remains largely an American phenomenon, tied partly to national pride since Pluto was discovered by a US astronomer in 1930.
A pull request submitted to the uv project introduces a mechanism to deduplicate files stored in its wheel cache, reducing redundant copies of package files. The change was merged into the open-source Python packaging tool's codebase after review.
Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, were extradited from Nigeria to face U.S. charges tied to sextortion schemes that led to the deaths of two minors in Mississippi and North Carolina. Both men were arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of 'Operation Artemis,' an international crackdown on sextortion rings targeting American minors, and now face charges including sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, production of child sexual abuse material, and coercion of minors.
Security researchers are flagging a fresh wave of email scams that no longer follow the old telltale patterns like poor grammar or suspicious links. These updated schemes are polished, convincing, and designed to slip past users who rely on outdated advice from corporate IT departments.
Microsoft confirmed a bug causing the Windows Security app to falsely display 'Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off' notifications after recent Defender updates, even though protection remains active. The issue, which has quietly affected Windows Insiders since June, now impacts all supported Windows client and server versions, including Windows 11 26H1 and Windows Server 2025. Microsoft says a fix is in development and will roll out in a future Defender update.
BYD's Hong Kong shares dropped nearly 5% after the company reported first-half net profit down 20.5% to 12.3 billion yuan and revenue down 7.1% to 344.8 billion yuan, even as second-quarter profit rose 30% year-over-year. The automaker cited weak domestic demand, intense price competition, and higher costs for commodities and chips squeezing margins, though overseas exports jumped 67.8% to 792,000 vehicles.
A workplace group that previously argued over sandwich definitions turned its attention to salads, eventually concluding through lengthy logical debate that virtually all edible food technically qualifies as a salad. The findings, originally written up internally in May 2017, are now being published publicly in response to other recent food-categorization theories the authors feel misrepresent what a salad actually is.
Grindr, under CEO George Arison since 2022, has grown revenue from $195 million to a guided $540 million-plus this year while keeping adjusted EBITDA margins above 40%, mostly by charging existing users more rather than expanding its user base. The company is now expanding beyond dating into healthcare services and travel features, and plans to launch a pricier 'EDGE' subscription tier later this year that has already drawn criticism online. Arison also argues that institutional investors continue to undervalue Grindr's stock because of stigma tied to being a gay dating app.
Luffu, a health app built for families and caregivers, has introduced a new wearable device created by Fitbit's founders. The device aims to reimagine wearable tech by focusing on caregiving and family health monitoring rather than individual fitness tracking, drawing inspiration from older concepts like Life Alert's emergency pendant.
Several exhibitors at Gamescom in Cologne reported stolen equipment from booths in the show's business zone, including developer Ryan Laley's new Alienware laptop, two laptops from publisher iam8bit, and two laptops plus a Steam Deck from Tessera Studios. The thefts occurred despite the area being restricted to press and industry badge holders, with organizers claiming 24/7 security was in place.
Standards body CGPM will vote in mid-October on ending the leap second, the periodic one-second adjustment used since 1972 to keep atomic clock time aligned with Earth's rotation. The move is being accelerated because the next adjustment could, for the first time, require subtracting rather than adding a second—a scenario computer systems have never had to handle. In its place, officials are proposing a leap hour that would only realign timescales once they drift a full 3,600 seconds apart.
A massive 12TB torrent dubbed the Steam 'teraleak' has surfaced online, containing thousands of game depots from Valve's old Steam2 content distribution system used between 2003 and 2013. The trove includes public release builds as well as previously unseen prototype, pre-release, and playtest versions of games from Valve and third-party publishers. Data miner Gabe Follower says the material was pulled from a publicly accessible API endpoint, suggesting the exposure originated from Valve's own systems rather than a hack.
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