Researchers have tightened the known upper limit for the de Bruijn–Newman constant, denoted Λ, lowering it to 0.1787854 through refined computational and analytic techniques. Λ is a quantity known to sit between 0 and 0.2, and its value is directly tied to the truth of the Riemann hypothesis: Λ equals 0 exactly if and only if the hypothesis holds, so any improvement in its ceiling narrows the gap between what is proven and what is conjectured.
A new analysis of seven states housing roughly half of America's data centers finds that generating the electricity these facilities consume uses far more water than cooling their servers does. Across Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio and Arizona, data center power demand draws about 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year—about 12 times the combined annual water use of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Most of that electricity comes from water-dependent power plants, and two-thirds of them sit in regions already facing significant water stress or drought.
Microsoft has partnered with Razer, 8BitDo, GameSir, Backbone and PowerA to launch a wave of Xbox 25th anniversary accessories, most featuring the translucent green look associated with the original console. The lineup includes reskinned Razer mice, keyboards and earbuds, an 8BitDo charging dock, a GameSir mobile controller, a mystery-colorway Backbone controller, and a PowerA sling bag for Xbox handhelds. All items are now available for preorder through the Xbox store and other retailers.
Amazon has cut the price of Anker's clamp-on Nano Power Strip to $57.99, down from its $69.99 list price, marking a 17% discount and the first price reduction the device has seen on the platform. The strip offers six AC outlets and four USB ports (two USB-C, two USB-A) with up to 70W total output, plus surge and overload protection.
WhatsApp is strengthening its two-step verification by letting users set a full password—supporting letters, numbers and special characters—instead of the previous six-digit PIN. The company is also improving caller ID on Android, showing more context about unknown callers such as their country and any shared groups. Both features are rolling out gradually, with the password option available on Android and iOS, while enhanced caller ID is Android-only for now.
A company is promoting ArtQrCode, a stylized version of the traditional QR code that can be branded with colors, images, and designs while retaining scannability. The codes can be applied to fabric, paper, packaging, digital displays, or even rendered in 3D formats.
Australia's recorded music industry association announced that songs created entirely by artificial intelligence will no longer qualify for the country's official music charts. The same ban extends to the Australian Record Industry Association's annual awards, effectively shutting AI-made tracks out of the nation's top music recognitions.
CD Projekt Red announced a remastered version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, arriving September 29th with upgraded visuals, revamped combat, a reworked skill tree, and both expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, included. The upgrade will be free for existing owners on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and the remaster will also bring the game to Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time.
Several Google Home owners report that asking their smart speakers to add items to Google Keep lists no longer works, even though the assistant correctly recognizes the voice command. In some cases the device merely states how many items are already on a list instead of adding anything new, and one user found it worked for a list named 'Shopping list' but not others. Google has not yet confirmed the cause, and the Notes & lists settings in the Google Home app appear to hint that voice-based list access may have been altered or removed.
Northwestern University postdoc Reese Richardson discovered that images used by lab supply companies to demonstrate antibody performance had been digitally altered, including removed background noise and copy-pasted data meant to fabricate results. His broader search identified these manipulation issues across marketing materials for more than 17,000 commercially sold antibodies.
A new guide from cua-sandbox shows developers how to boot a Windows virtual machine, install Minecraft Java Edition inside it, and control the game using an AI agent connected through the cua-driver MCP server. The setup works both on a local QEMU-based sandbox and on the Fleet cloud service, requiring version 0.3.3 or later of cua-sandbox.
Developers have released QuestStack, a new bootloader that chains known Android fastboot vulnerabilities to achieve full root access on the original 2019 Meta Quest headset. The exploit runs entirely through a web interface with no downloads required once the headset is connected to a PC.
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