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AI coding tools can reduce productivity

The buzz about AI coding tools is unrelenting. To listen to the reports, startups are launching with tiny engineering teams, non-programmers are “vibe-coding” entire apps, and the job market for entry-level programmers is crashing. But according to a METR experiment conducted in the spring of 2025, there’s at least one cohort that AI tools still aren’t serving. METR performed a rigorous study (blog post, full paper) to measure the productivity gain provided by AI tools for experienced developer

Not So Fast: AI Coding Tools Can Reduce Productivity

The buzz about AI coding tools is unrelenting. To listen to the reports, startups are launching with tiny engineering teams, non-programmers are “vibe-coding” entire apps, and the job market for entry-level programmers is crashing. But according to a METR experiment conducted in the spring of 2025, there’s at least one cohort that AI tools still aren’t serving. METR performed a rigorous study (blog post, full paper) to measure the productivity gain provided by AI tools for experienced developer

The FBI Is Using Polygraphs to Test Officials' Loyalty

Typically, the F.B.I. has turned to polygraph tests to sniff out employees who might have betrayed their country or shown they cannot be trusted with secrets. Since Kash Patel took office as the director of the F.B.I., the bureau has significantly stepped up the use of the lie-detector test, at times subjecting personnel to a question as specific as whether they have cast aspersions on Mr. Patel himself. In interviews and polygraph tests, the F.B.I. has asked senior employees whether they have

Bluesky is adding age verification features for users in the UK

Bluesky users in the UK will soon need to verify their age if they want continued access to direct messages and all of the service's content. The company will begin rolling out age verification features later this month in order to comply with a UK law that requires platforms that offer adult content to confirm users' ages, Bluesky said in an update . The company says it will use Epic games' Kids Web Services to conduct age verification checks, and that people will be able to choose between sev

Measuring the impact of AI on experienced open-source developer productivity

We conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to understand how early-2025 AI tools affect the productivity of experienced open-source developers working on their own repositories. Surprisingly, we find that when developers use AI tools, they take 19% longer than without—AI makes them slower. We view this result as a snapshot of early-2025 AI capabilities in one relevant setting; as these systems continue to rapidly evolve, we plan on continuing to use this methodology to help estimate AI accel

This Linux distro combines the best parts of Windows and MacOS - and it's gorgeous

Jack Wallen/ZDNET There are so many Linux distributions on the market, and they range from the command line only all the way to functioning works of art. The majority of distros fall somewhere in the middle, of course, and that's perfectly fine because most users prefer a blend of aesthetics and functionality. That's why the likes of Linux Mint, ZorinOS, elementaryOS, and Ubuntu are so popular. But every once in a while, a team releases an update to its distribution that reminds you that Linux

ExTiX's new release is an even better Windows 11-like Linux desktop

Jack Wallen/ZDNET Back in 2022, I reviewed ExTiX with the idea of using it to get the Deepin desktop experience, without the possible security/privacy issues associated with Deepin Linux. Now ExTiX has a new release, based on Deepin 25 Stable. This new release vastly improves on the experience to deliver a desktop with a layout that would make any Windows 11 user feel right at home, only there are no intrusive ads, unexpected reboots, or concerns that something will come crashing down. When yo

Musk’s Grok 4 launches one day after chatbot generated Hitler praise on X

On Wednesday night, Elon Musk unveiled xAI's latest flagship models Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy via livestream, just one day after the company's Grok chatbot began generating outputs that featured blatantly antisemitic tropes in responses to users on X. Among the two models, xAI calls Grok 4 Heavy its "multi-agent version." According to Musk, Grok 4 Heavy "spawns multiple agents in parallel" that "compare notes and yield an answer," simulating a study group approach. The company describes this as t

Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK

Bluesky is adding age verification to its platform in the UK as part of efforts to comply with the country’s Online Safety Act. In an update on Thursday, the platform says it will let users verify their age by scanning their face, uploading an ID, or entering a payment card. Bluesky will perform age verification through Kid Web Services (KWS), an Epic Games-owned tool that developers can use to implement age verification and parental controls on their platforms. If users don’t want to verify th

Elon Musk Asks Analyst Pointing Out Tesla Issues to "Shut Up"

He's not thrilled, y'all. Expert Advice Amid Tesla's latest CEO-flavored downturn, Elon Musk is now hurling insults at a prominent stock analyst. Earlier in the day, Wedbush analyst and Tesla fan Dan Ives posted on X with a few stark but reasonable recommendations to keep the electric vehicle company afloat and its investors happy to boot. Those suggestions — a new pay package, an xAI merger, and oversight on how much time Musk spends at Tesla and his outside "political endeavors" — clearly

"Awkward": Sacked Twitter CEO's Son Is Still Showing Up for Work

On Tuesday, Linda Yaccarino suddenly stepped down as CEO of X, Elon Musk's social media site that was once known to many as Twitter, after two years of loyal service at the company. But guess who still showed up to work the next day? According to reporting by the New York Times: her nepo-hire of a son, Matt Madrazo. "So that's awkward," Madrazo said to colleagues after arriving at X's New York office, per the NYT. The progeny outlasts the progenitor. Yaccarino hired Madrazo in 2023 to sell po

Elon Musk introduced Grok 4 last night, calling it the ‘smartest AI in the world’ — what businesses need to know

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now After days of controversy surrounding a flurry of antisemitic responses made recently by his Grok AI-powered chatbot on his social network X (formerly Twitter), a seemingly unrepentant and unbothered Elon Musk launched the latest version of his AI model family, Grok 4, during an event livestreamed on X last night, calling it the “the smarte

Topics: ai grok model models musk

How passkeys work: Your passwordless journey begins here

CollinsChin/Getty Images Over the last few decades, compromised usernames and passwords have typically been at the root of some of the most sensational, damaging, and costly data breaches. An incessant drumbeat of advice about how to choose and use strong passwords and how not to fall prey to social engineering attacks has done little to keep threat actors at bay. Additional factors of authentication, such as the transmission of one-time passwords or passcodes (OTPs) over SMS or email, are wid

Measuring the Impact of AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity

We conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to understand how early-2025 AI tools affect the productivity of experienced open-source developers working on their own repositories. Surprisingly, we find that when developers use AI tools, they take 19% longer than without—AI makes them slower. We view this result as a snapshot of early-2025 AI capabilities in one relevant setting; as these systems continue to rapidly evolve, we plan on continuing to use this methodology to help estimate AI accel

Elon Musk’s Newest AI Chatbot Is Powerful, Controversial, and Already Under Fire

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has launched a new version of its chatbot—Grok 4—and its rollout is already dividing the internet. Unveiled on July 9, Grok 4 and its premium version, “SuperGrok,” are being hailed by some benchmarkers as the most powerful chatbots on the market. Musk fans, AI engineers, and benchmark testers are applauding its capabilities. But others are skeptical, pointing to a recent storm of hallucinations, including responses laced with antisemitic tropes, that severely damage

Topics: ai grok july musk xai

Musk says Grok chatbot was 'manipulated' into praising Hitler

Musk says Grok chatbot was 'manipulated' into praising Hitler 3 hours ago Share Save Peter Hoskins & Charlotte Edwards • @edwardsclm Business & technology reporters, BBC News Share Save Reuters Elon Musk has sought to explain how his artificial intelligence (AI) firm's chatbot, Grok, praised Hitler. "Grok was too compliant to user prompts," Musk wrote on X. "Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed." Screenshots published on social media show the chatbot sa

Elon Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service area and adding Grok 'next week at the latest'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is expanding its robotaxi service area and bringing xAI's Grok to vehicles as it rolled out a new iteration of the artificial intelligence chatbot. Shares gained about 3%. Musk said on X that Grok, his AI chatbot that praised Adolf Hitler and posted a barrage of antisemitic comments recently, will be available in Tesla vehicles "next week at the latest." xAI officially launched the Grok 4 update overnight as the company continued to face backlash for the v

Synology masters both ease and control with BeeStation and DiskStation

Synology is synonymous with NAS, or network-attached storage, and there’s good reason for that. The DiskStation line of products is reliable and robust with a great community that supports consumer and professional use cases. More recently, Synology has reached beyond traditional NAS solutions with BeeStation, a private and family cloud storage solution. I’ve recently been testing the BeeStation Plus, a somewhat less capable, but much more approachable, product, and the DiskStation DS925+, a tra

Automatically Packaging a Haskell Library as a Swift Binary XCFramework

Announcing xcframework or: the happy path for wiring a Haskell dependency to your Swift app I’ve written about Haskell x Swift interoperability before. Calling Haskell from Swift is about marshalling and the foreign function interface. But Creating a macOS app with Haskell and Swift tells the much messier tale of hijacking XCode to vodoo together the Haskell library, its headers, and two handfuls of other magic ingredients into one buildable SwiftUI application. Stop! Don’t click on the last l

Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles ‘next week,’ says Elon Musk

Elon Musk said in a post on X early Thursday morning that Grok, the chatbot from his AI company, xAI, will be coming to Tesla vehicles “very soon.” “Next week at the latest,” he said. The news that Grok would be coming to Tesla vehicles soon comes several hours after xAI debuted the latest flagship AI model Grok 4. Fans had wondered loudly why Musk spent an hour late on Wednesday talking about Grok with no mention of a Tesla integration, which likely prompted the billionaire’s early morning an

Tesla Is in Serious Trouble in China

As its sales continue to crater in the US and Europe, Tesla's reliance on China — its second-largest market and biggest production hub — is growing. But thanks to a surge in far more price-competitive and lucrative offerings from Chinese EV manufacturers like BYD, Tesla's woes look poised to metastasize there as well. Its market share in China is shrinking, the Wall Street Journal reports, which could represent yet another nail in Elon Musk's carmaker's coffin. The company sold 40,000 fewer ca

Elon Musk Says Grok Is Coming to Tesla EVs

“Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,” Elon Musk stated Thursday in a post on X. The EV brand would catch up with the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, which have already integrated ChatGPT into their vehicles as voice assistants. The announcement follows a livestream late Wednesday that Musk held with xAI colleagues where the billionaire unveiled Grok 4, the latest AI model from xAI, his multibillion-dollar initiative to rival OpenAI and Google. The timing

This Is DOGE 2.0

On Monday, June 23, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, one of the first young, inexperienced technologists to join Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), disappeared from the internal directory of the General Services Administration (GSA). Less than a month before, centibillionaire Elon Musk and other DOGE leaders had announced their departure from government. After months of slashing through the federal government, it seemed like the end for DOGE was in sight. But later t

Elon Musk Unveils Grok 4 Amid Controversy Over Chatbot’s Antisemitic Posts

Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled Grok 4, the latest AI model from xAI, his multibillion-dollar initiative to rival OpenAI and Google. Without citing detailed evidence, Musk claimed that the model aces standardized tests and exhibits doctorate-level knowledge in a wide array of different disciplines. “Grok 4 is a postgrad-level in everything,” Musk said during an hour-long live broadcast, which began after midnight in New York. “At least with respect to academic questions, Grok 4 is better than Ph

Topics: ai grok musk said xai

How passkeys work: Do your favorite sites even support passkeys?

Adam Smigielski/Getty Images Over the last few decades, compromised usernames and passwords have typically been at the root of some of the most sensational, damaging, and costly data breaches. An incessant drumbeat of advice about how to choose and use strong passwords and how not to fall prey to social engineering attacks has done little to keep threat actors at bay. Additional factors of authentication, such as the transmission of one-time passwords or passcodes (OTPs) over SMS or email, are

Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive of X and a top lieutenant to its owner, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that she was leaving the company two years after joining the social media platform. In a post on X, Ms. Yaccarino, 61, said: “When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me.” She did not provide a reason for her departure. Ms. Yacc

Judge Finds Tesla Has Failed to Deliver Full Self-Driving, Needs to Issue Refund

After a year of fighting out his case in arbitration, a Tesla owner successfully forced Elon Musk's EV maker to reimburse him the $10,000 he paid for the company's misleadingly-called "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance package, Electrek reports. For over a decade now, Musk has made yearly promises that Teslas will be capable of driving themselves. But the software, even after all these years, still requires users to be able to take over control at any time, making it no more than a middle-o

How to Marvel at the Spectacular Buck Moon This Week, Along With Mars and Venus

It's officially summer, and with that comes the first full moon of the season. July's full moon -- known as the Buck Moon or the Thunder Moon -- will light up the night sky on July 10 and be at its fullest going into July 11. It'll be bright for the whole night, but will reach peak luminosity at around 4:37 a.m. local time, which is a bit late (or early) for most skygazers. According to Stellarium's sky map, the moon will rise from the southeastern horizon just after sunset on Thursday and stre

Topics: buck july moon sky time

Desktop Publishing Tools That Didn't Make It (2022)

Today in Tedium: It’s easy to forget now, but desktop publishing was an immensely innovative thing when it emerged within the computing industry in the early ’80s. While at its heart a mishmash of hardware and software cleverly combined for a single goal, it was an empire builder, one that helped create new businesses and improve the status and positioning of existing ones. And with the decline of print as a medium, it can feel kind of old hat, but lots of stuff still gets typeset every single d

X CEO Linda Yaccarino: My Work Here Is Done

Linda Yaccarino announced Wednesday she was stepping down as CEO of X in a tweet that showed no sign of bad feelings toward X owner Elon Musk. But the timing is certainly interesting after Musk’s AI chatbot Grok promoted genocidal Nazi ideas on Tuesday, praising Adolf Hitler and suggesting a second Holocaust against Jews was needed. “After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X,” Yaccarino wrote in a tweet Wednesday morning that immediately got flooded with questions about