Britain's government has moved to permit plug-in solar kits, but the Institution of Engineering and Technology says the country's electrical infrastructure wasn't built for it. IET technical regulations head Mark Coles says many homes still use older Residual Current Devices designed only for one-way power flow, which can fail or burn out when solar feeds electricity back through them. The IET issued its own warning the same day as the government's announcement, urging homeowners to get professional wiring checks before installing any system.
Meta was granted a patent last week for a hardware-enforced privacy system that includes a 'mute or lock' switch capable of disabling sensors on devices like its Ray-Ban smart glasses. The filing, submitted in February, comes as the company's camera-equipped glasses have drawn widespread criticism and earned the nickname 'pervert glasses' due to misuse by harassers and voyeurs.
A startup called Operation Bluebird, founded partly by former Twitter trademark counsel Stephen Coates, has launched a new social network named Twitter.now. The move follows a lawsuit from X last year, which tried to block the company from using the Twitter name, though Operation Bluebird argued X had abandoned trademarks like 'Twitter' and 'Tweet.' The platform is currently in paid testing at $20 for early access and features an AI trust-scoring system called VERA.
Meta is rolling out new safety measures for Instagram and Facebook users under 18, including two-hour daily time limits, nighttime blocks, and algorithm-free feed options, as part of a settlement with dozens of US states over child safety and addiction claims. However, these protections currently apply only in the US, with Meta saying it will keep talking to other governments about expanding them.
A developer is building a simulator for CII's Mitra-15, a French 16-bit minicomputer from the early 1970s, by adapting an existing SDS 940 simulator within the SIMH framework. The project is still in an early, incomplete stage, with core instruction sets, memory management, and numerous peripheral devices like disks, tape readers, and various I/O channels still to be implemented. The developer relied heavily on documentation compiled by Pascal Chour due to the scarcity of surviving Mitra-15 materials.
Israeli security researchers scanned over 6,000 corporate domains and found 120 llms.txt/llms-full.txt files—AI-readable site guides similar to robots.txt—referencing unregistered code packages or domains. When the researchers claimed those names and set up beacons, dozens of organizations, including Fortune 500 firms, triggered phone-home connections within hours, with process logs showing AI coding agents like Claude, Codex, and Hermes had automatically fetched and executed the unowned code. At least one misconfigured site was already pointing to live malware.
New Wendy's CEO Bob Wright has detailed a five-part strategy to reverse the chain's slide behind Burger King into third place among U.S. burger chains, citing prior 'quality degradation' as a key cause. The plan covers menu and ingredient improvements, fixing inconsistent store operations, selectively closing weak locations while opening new ones, overhauling marketing with new hire Tariq Hassan as chief marketing and customer growth officer, and scaling back reliance on discount promotions in favor of core menu value.
New scientific findings highlight that the brain remains in a restorative state during the first hour after waking, still completing processes tied to its overnight cleaning cycle. Reaching immediately for a phone, coffee, or email disrupts this natural transition and can affect mental clarity for the rest of the day.
Meta has settled a lawsuit brought by attorneys general from 29 US states over allegations it built systems exploiting minors' data while downplaying known harms to young users. The company will pay roughly $18 billion over ten years and adopt new restrictions including a two-hour daily usage cap for minors, nighttime access blocks, school-hours limits, tougher age verification, and curbs on social comparison features.
CoMaps, an open-source mapping app, now supports interoperability with Gadgetbridge for smartwatch navigation and OpenVitals for tracking outdoor activities via Android's Health Connect. Gadgetbridge users from v0.93.0 onward can receive turn-by-turn directions on supported Bluetooth devices, while OpenVitals users can overlay CoMaps routes onto their live activity data. Both integrations require explicit user permission, keeping data sharing opt-in only.
Apple has rolled out 11 new hardware products through 2026, starting with a second-generation AirTag in January and continuing through a dense March launch that included the iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, updated MacBook Air and Pro, new Studio Displays, the budget MacBook Neo, and AirPods Max 2. In August, Apple added updated Mac mini and Mac Studio models built around its new M6 chip, with faster storage, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
Meta has agreed in the US to add safety features for children on Facebook and Instagram, including overnight access restrictions, usage time limits, and prompts for young users spending long periods on the apps. This falls short of the UK's own approach, which includes an outright social media ban for under-16s starting in 2027 and additional curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds.
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