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You Can Recycle Your Old Computers and Printers for Free. Here's Where to Take Them

It's somehow really hard to get rid of your old laptops, desktops and printers, even when it's been over a decade since you last plugged them in. But recycling old tech is easier than you think and can free up a lot of space in your home. A CNET survey found that 31% of US adults are still holding onto old, unused devices, including laptops, because they're unsure of what to do with them. The survey also found that 19% of respondents just toss old devices in the trash -- which is actually illeg

Trump’s cybersecurity cuts putting nation at risk, warns New York cyber chief

During the first few months of the new Trump administration, the White House slashed cybersecurity budgets, staff, and initiatives. And some, including cybersecurity experts and legislators, are not happy about it. One of them is Colin Ahern, the chief cyber officer for the state of New York. In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Ahern said that both he and New York Governor Kathy Hochul are worried that the Trump administration’s cuts to cybersecurity are putting the country at risk. “We wor

Fintech dystopia

"Just like beauty, efficiency, competition, and security are all in the eye of the beholder. For example, one person’s “efficiency” may be another person’s “dismantling critical government infrastructure.” And yet technological solutions designed to make things more efficient, more competitive, or more secure are often presented by Silicon Valley as neutral and universally desirable. That veneer of neutrality and universality can be dangerous if it disguises the fact that Silicon Valley is solvi

Tour de France confronts a new threat: Are cyclists using tiny motors?

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France — After the world’s best cyclists charged up the final climb in Stage 7 of the Tour de France, passing a roaring crowd at the finish line, a group of officials in black polo shirts darted toward their bikes. The officials put red bracelets on the carbon frames. Their job was to conduct a little-known check in one of the world’s most scandal-stained sports: The bikes were being inspected for tiny motors. Eight bikes were wheeled to a black tent a few feet from the podium,

Scientists Secretly Working on Plan to Test Blocking Sun From Huge Area of Earth

Scientists are racing to find potential ways to slow down global warming, going far as to investigate ways to dim the Sun. The concept, known as solar geoengineering, has proven incredibly controversial in the past, with critics arguing that we simply don't know enough about the risks, including the environmental and societal impacts of tinkering with the climate. Proponents don't necessarily disagree, but they say the situation is already so bad that we need to consider drastic action, even if

New York state cyber chief calls out Trump for cybersecurity cuts

During the first few months of the new Trump administration, the White House slashed cybersecurity budgets, staff, and initiatives. And some, including cybersecurity experts and legislators, are not happy about it. One of them is Colin Ahern, the chief cyber officer for the state of New York. In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Ahern said that both he and New York Governor Kathy Hochul are worried that the Trump administration’s cuts to cybersecurity are putting the country at risk. “We wor

NASA faces brain drain as thousands exit under voluntary resignation scheme

Almost 3,900 of NASA's workforce is set to leave the agency thanks to voluntary incentives, with senior staffers among those heading out the door. The figures were reportedly issued by NASA HQ on Friday. About 3,000 employees opted to take part in a second round of the agency's Deferred Resignation Program. Some 870 participated in the first round, earlier this year. The exodus has led observers to bemoan the loss of talent. Former Hubble astronaut Dr John Grunsfeld described the departures to

Nearly 4,000 NASA Employees Quit as Part of Trump Buyouts

More than 20% of NASA’s civil workforce has elected to leave the agency since President Trump took office in January, the agency revealed on Friday, July 25. In the latest wave of resignations, thousands accepted deals through the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program. In a statement emailed to SpaceNews on Friday, NASA said about 3,000 employees applied for buyouts through a second round of the program. Earlier this year, the first round saw 870 staffers leave the agency. The nea

Flights grounded as Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot hacked and systems ‘destroyed’

In Brief Flights across Russia have been grounded after a cyberattack hit the country’s largest airline, Aeroflot, on Monday. Details of the cyberattack remain limited, but a pro-Ukrainian hacker group known for targeting Russian organizations called Silent Crow took credit for the cyberattack alongside Belarusian hackers, citing Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. The group said in a Telegram post, seen by TechCrunch, that it had taken control of Aeroflot’s critical systems, including terabytes

Flights grounded as Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot hit by cyberattack

In Brief Flights across Russia have been grounded after a cyberattack hit the country’s largest airline, Aeroflot, on Monday. Details of the cyberattack remain limited, but a pro-Ukrainian hacker group known for targeting Russian organizations called Silent Crow took credit for the cyberattack alongside Belarusian hackers, citing Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. The group said in a Telegram post, seen by TechCrunch, that it had taken control of Aeroflot’s critical systems, including terabytes

Proton launches Lumo, a privacy-focused AI chatbot

TL;DR: Proton recently introduced Lumo, a new chatbot service designed with a focus on confidentiality and security. Billed as a "privacy-first" AI tool, Lumo aims to deliver the benefits of modern artificial intelligence without compromising user privacy or misusing personal data. While results may vary, Proton appears confident enough to position Lumo alongside established competitors in the AI market. The idea behind Lumo is that while AI can provide significant opportunities for users and b

Privacy apps Signal, Brave, and AdGuard push back against Windows Recall

The big picture: Since its announcement last year, Windows Recall has faced mounting criticism from privacy experts who have labeled it a potential surveillance tool – despite Microsoft's assurances of airtight security. Now, some developers are taking matters into their own hands, leveraging built-in Windows features to shield users from what many advocates view as a serious intrusion into personal privacy. Signal was one of the first apps to block Windows Recall from capturing screenshots of

4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

Nearly 4,000 NASA employees have opted to leave the space agency through the Trump administration's deferred resignation program, NASA said on Saturday. The cuts amount to an estimated 20% of NASA's workforce, and will reduce the agency from 18,000 to 14,000 employees, NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said in a statement shared with NPR. The total number includes the agency's loss of 500 other workers due to normal attrition, she said. During a second round of the program, which closed at midni

Test Results for AMD Zen 5

Post by agner » 2025-07-26, 12:43:13 I have now finished testing the Zen 5. Thank you to the people who have helped running test scripts for me.My test results for the AMD Zen 5 are impressive. It has a lot of features that increase different aspects of the CPU performance to new levels, never seen before.Most importantly, the instruction fetch rate is increased from 16 to 32 bytes per clock cycle. The 16-bytes fetch rate has been a serious bottleneck in both Intel and AMD processors through ma

Brave and AdGuard now block Microsoft Recall by default

The Brave web browser and the ad-blocker AdGuard have both announced that they are blocking Microsoft Recall by default . For the uninitiated, Recall is an AI-powered tool that accompanies Windows 11 and it records everything on a PC's screen . It's pretty obvious why a privacy-minded web browser like Brave and an ad-blocker would make this move. AdGuard said the decision was made due to a "privacy concern," going on to say that "the very idea of background screen captures is unsettling." A blo

Sam Altman warns there’s no legal confidentiality when using ChatGPT as a therapist

ChatGPT users may want to think twice before turning to their AI app for therapy or other kinds of emotional support. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the AI industry hasn’t yet figured out how to protect user privacy when it comes to these more sensitive conversations, because there’s no doctor-patient confidentiality when your doc is an AI. The exec made these comments on a recent episode of Theo Von’s podcast, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von. In response to a question about how AI works wi

The electric Stark Varg EX is brutally fast but a little too unrefined

Stark Future provided flights from Albany, New York, to Barcelona, Spain, and accommodation so Ars could ride the Varg EX. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. The sport of off-roading suffers from a fundamental discordance: The desire to get out into nature and the irreparable harm inherent in the process of off-roading. That harm comes not only from damage to the land itself, but from an environment polluted with both fumes and noise. Off-roading in an EV isn't exactly a panacea, but

The Download: saving the US climate programs, and America’s AI protections are under threat

Nonprofits are trying to preserve a US effort to modernize greenhouse-gas measurements, amid growing fears that the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal programs will obscure the nation’s contributions to climate change. The Data Foundation, a Washington, DC, nonprofit, is fundraising for an initiative that will coordinate efforts among nonprofits, technical experts, and companies to improve the accuracy and accessibility of climate emissions information. It will build on an effort to

Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan, improves survival of aged mice

As revenues from the anti-aging market — riddled with hope and thousands of supplements — surged past $500 million last year, Emory University researchers identified a compound that actively delays aging in cells and organisms. A newly published study in Nature Partner Journals’ Aging demonstrates that psilocin, a byproduct of consuming psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, extended the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%. In parallel, research

Hackers—hope to defect to Russia? Don’t Google “defecting to Russia.”

To the casual observer, cybercriminals can look like swashbuckling geniuses. They possess technical skills formidable enough to penetrate the networks of the biggest companies on the planet. They cover their tracks using technology that is arcane to most people—VPNs, encrypted chat apps, onion routing, aliases in dark web forums. They talk trash, extorting corporate ransoms in cryptocurrency, and they aim high, not flinching even at the prospect of stealing data on US presidential candidates.

America’s AI watchdog is losing its bite

It found that the security giant Evolv lied about the accuracy of its AI-powered security checkpoints, which are used in stadiums and schools but failed to catch a seven-inch knife that was ultimately used to stab a student. It went after the facial recognition company Intellivision, saying the company made unfounded claims that its tools operated without gender or racial bias. It fined startups promising bogus “AI lawyer” services and one that sold fake product reviews generated with AI. These

Topics: agency ai ftc house trump

‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Charts a Seafaring Course for Season 2

It was no surprise when Percy Jackson and the Olympians was renewed for a second season in early 2024—the Disney+ series was a hit when it premiered back in 2023, building on the popularity of Rick Riordan‘s fantasy-adventure novel series. Then—earlier this year, before season two even arrived—it was renewed for a third installment. That’s a huge boost of confidence for all involved, and the excitement came through in the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, held in the cavernous Hall H. Here’s Di

Brave browser will block Microsoft Recall from tracking your online activity

ZDNET Microsoft has been touting its Recall feature to certain Windows users, but the screen snooper is already persona non grata with one popular browser. Starting with version 1.81, Brave for Windows will block Recall from automatically taking screenshots of your browsing activity, according to an article posted on Brave's website. "Given Brave's focus on privacy-maximizing defaults and what is at stake here (your entire browsing history), we have proactively disabled Recall for all Brave ta

Surfshark vs. CyberGhost: Which VPN should you get?

Allison Murray/ZDNET Surfshark and CyberGhost are consistently ranked among the top VPNs. They are high-value yet relatively affordable VPNs, which is why most users love them. Also: NordVPN vs Surfshark One unique thing about Surfshark is that there's no cap on the number of devices you can connect. It shares a lot with NordVPN, especially from a security point of view. But it's not as streaming-centered as CyberGhost. Also, I had minor but persistent server connection issues with the app, b

Brave blocks Windows Recall from screenshotting your browsing activity

Brave Software says its privacy-focused browser will block Microsoft's Windows Recall from capturing screenshots of Brave windows by default to protect users' privacy. Windows Recall is an opt-in Windows feature that takes screenshots of active windows every few seconds, analyzes them, and enables Windows 11 users to search for text within the snapshots using natural language. The goal is to make it easy for users to quickly find information about past activities in Windows. However, the featu

What to expect from Debian/Trixie

Debian v13 with codename trixie is scheduled to be published as new stable release on 9th of August 2025. I was the driving force at several of my customers to be well prepared for the upcoming stable release (my efforts for trixie started in August 2024). On the one hand, to make sure packages we care about are available and actually make it into the release. On the other hand, to ensure there are no severe issues that make it into the release and to get proper and working upgrades. So far eve

Lumo: Privacy-first AI assistant

Artificial intelligence has the power to tackle humanity’s challenges, big and small, from scheduling meetings to modeling molecules. But to truly transform how we live and work for the better, we need an AI assistant(new window) built responsibly — putting people and privacy first. Today, Big Tech is repeating the mistakes from the internet’s early days. Instead of using AI to serve people, they’re turning people into products — and using AI to accelerate the surveillance-capitalism business m

Someone Just Sold Their 2011 Bitcoin for a 17 Million Percent Profit

A mysterious Bitcoin account has cashed out a cache of cryptocurrency they originally bought for $54,000 — but which, after HODLing for 14 long years, is now worth an astronomical $9.5 billion, for a staggering profit of over 17 million percent. Bitcoin whales, meaning accounts that hold on to substantial sums of crypto for long periods at a time, have been making moves as of late, Tom's Hardware reports, reaping enormous returns as crypto markets reach all-time highs. Just last week, a differ

FDA employees say the agency's Elsa generative AI hallucinates entire studies

Current and former members of the FDA told CNN about issues with the Elsa generative AI tool unveiled by the federal agency last month. Three employees said that in practice, Elsa has hallucinated nonexistent studies or misrepresented real research. "Anything that you don't have time to double-check is unreliable," one source told the publication. "It hallucinates confidently." Which isn't exactly ideal for a tool that's supposed to be speeding up the clinical review process and aiding with maki

Topics: agency elsa fda told tool

Trump unveils his plan to put AI in everything

is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform. Ensuring AI reflects “objective truth,” slashing onerous regulations, disseminating US AI tools around the world, and fast-tracking AI infrastructure: this is all part of President Donald Trump’s vision for AI policy. The White House unveiled its “AI Action Plan” Wednesday ahead o