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DistroKid confirmed to The Verge that it has been taking down musicians' songs as a direct response to a September lawsuit from UMG accusing the platform of running an 'AI-slop pipeline.' Several artists, including musician McGwire and rapper Insane Ian, say legitimate, non-AI tracks were removed without prior notice, and that getting an explanation required lengthy battles with automated support.
FlowCE is a free, open-source application for the TI-84 Plus CE and TI-83 Premium CE calculators that lets users enter mathematical expressions in standard notation. It returns results in exact symbolic form, such as π²/6, alongside the corresponding decimal approximation. The software is released under the GNU GPL license.
A year-long Senate investigation found that AI data center developers have often exaggerated the community benefits of their projects while obscuring key figures. Companies reportedly tout construction job counts but withhold permanent staffing numbers, with some disclosing ratios as low as one permanent job per megawatt of capacity. The probe also examined sales-tax exemptions on computer equipment, which investigators say are more lucrative to companies than the property-tax breaks that typically draw public scrutiny.
A Bitwarden user raised concerns on a forum about the company's move to a dual-license structure, worrying it mirrors a pattern seen with other open-source projects that later restricted free versions. The poster, who pays for Bitwarden and self-hosts Vaultwarden instances, asked Bitwarden representatives whether future features would be reserved for the commercial tier and whether self-hosting compatibility would be preserved. A reply in the comments indicated that decisions on which features go into which version will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Wizards of the Coast is developing a new Dungeons & Dragons expansion set for release in 2027 that draws on space-opera, Star Wars-style elements rather than traditional fantasy settings. The move would add a sci-fi flavored rules and setting option to the tabletop game's core offerings.
A troubleshooting guide offers practical steps to improve smart speaker accuracy, including cleaning the device, repositioning it away from walls and noise sources like fans, and adjusting sensitivity or wake-word settings on multi-speaker setups. It also recommends giving connected smart home devices and rooms unique, distinct names to avoid confusion.
Justin Cormack, a former MirageOS and Unikernel Systems developer, discussed in a podcast conversation why unikernels—operating systems built as a single application with no separate userland—are seeing renewed interest. He said the original difficulty of writing low-level components like storage drivers has diminished because AI models can now generate that code on demand. The conversation, part of Cormack's newsletter series, also touched on related technologies including Mirage, Orleans, Haskell, Nix and Cursed.
Former Senator Blanche Lincoln, who helped write Dodd-Frank provisions letting regulators ban sports-event betting on prediction markets, has been lobbying Congress and the CFTC since 2024 on behalf of Kalshi to allow such wagers. The 2010 law left the decision to the executive branch; the Biden administration restricted sports-based contracts, while the Trump administration has moved to permit them and is contesting state efforts to regulate prediction markets.
Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm discussed the company's efforts to revive extinct species, including dire wolves, woolly mammoths, dodos, Tasmanian tigers, and moa, at the CNBC AI Forum. Lamm described using AI models to reconstruct the dire wolf genome from ancient DNA from a skull and tooth, then editing gray wolf cells to create embryos carried by surrogate dogs, resulting in three pups named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. He said the company expects to reveal more de-extinct species within the next one to two years.
Google Maps allows users to set or edit a 'home' shortcut via the web or mobile app for faster navigation to their most frequent destination. The feature can be adjusted whenever someone moves or hasn't yet configured a home address.
A new wave of AI agents operate directly through texting apps such as iMessage, RCS, Signal and Telegram instead of requiring a dedicated app. Tools like Caddy scan calendars and conversations to surface tasks such as reminders and event scheduling, while Comma carries work tasks to completion across browsers and files, flagging items for user approval. The sector includes Instinct, which recently raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation.
Director Brad Bird's new animated sci-fi detective film 'Ray Gunn' is set for a December theatrical release. The cast includes Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson in voice roles.