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A better future for JavaScript that won't happen

In the wake of the largest supply-chain attack in history, the JavaScript community could have a moment of reckoning and decide: never again. As the panic and shame subsides, after compromised developers finish re-provisioning their workstations and rotating their keys, the ecosystem might re-orient itself towards solving the fundamental flaws that allowed this to happen. After all, people have been sounding the alarm for years that this approach to dependency management is reckless and dangero

How weak passwords and other failings led to catastrophic breach of Ascension

Last week, a prominent US senator called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Microsoft for cybersecurity negligence over the role it played last year in health giant Ascension's ransomware breach, which caused life-threatening disruptions at 140 hospitals and put the medical records of 5.6 million patients into the hands of the attackers. Lost in the focus on Microsoft was something as, or more, urgent: never-before-revealed details that now invite scrutiny of Ascension’s own security

Auk Mini Review: Start Your Own Seeds, Scandinavian Style

In my ongoing quest to put as many of the popular indoor hydroponic garden systems as I can through their paces, I have noticed something irritating. Many, if not most, of these systems require—or at minimum, strongly suggest—ordering proprietary seed pods, inserts, or capsules from the company itself. You can jury-rig, of course, but usually at your own hassle and failure risk. If you order through the companies, not only can the excess packaging be wasteful, the costs add up quickly (competit

Topics: auk bar garden light pots

Google will use hashes to find and remove nonconsensual intimate imagery from Search

On Wednesday, Google announced a partnership with StopNCII.org to combat the spread of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), the company announced today . Over the next few months, Google will start using StopNCII’s hashes to proactively identify nonconsensual images in search results and remove them. Hashes are algorithmically-generated unique identifiers that allow services to identify and block imagery flagged as abuse without sharing or storing the actual source. StopNII says it uses PDQ f

Pnpm has a new setting to stave off supply chain attacks

There have been several incidents recently where popular packages were successfully attacked. To reduce the risk of installing a compromised version, we are introducing a new setting that delays the installation of newly released dependencies. In most cases, such attacks are discovered quickly and the malicious versions are removed from the registry within an hour. The new setting is called minimumReleaseAge . It specifies the number of minutes that must pass after a version is published before

Students are using AI tools instead of building foundational skills - but resistance is growing

imaginima/iStock/Getty Images Plus Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways There is growing concern about student dependence on AI. Today's computer science grads might understand less about IT systems. Some technology professors are pushing back against AI in classrooms. Whether you are studying information technology, teaching it, or creating the software that powers learning, it's clear that artificial intelligence is challenging and changing educatio

Trump admin says Social Security database wasn’t “leaked, hacked, or shared”

The Trump administration yesterday issued a lengthier denial of a whistleblower's allegation that DOGE officials at the Social Security Administration (SSA) copied the agency's database to an insecure cloud system. The allegation centers on the Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) database containing Americans' personally identifiable information. The cloud location described by the whistleblower report "is actually a secured server in the agency's cloud infrastructure which historically

SonicWall warns customers to reset credentials after breach

SonicWall warned customers today to reset credentials after their firewall configuration backup files were exposed in a security breach that impacted MySonicWall accounts. After detecting the incident, SonicWall has cut off the attackers' access to its systems and has been collaborating with cybersecurity and law enforcement agencies to investigate the attack's impact. "As part of our commitment to transparency, we are notifying you of an incident that exposed firewall configuration backup fil

Google's new study tool personalizes your learning material - here's how

MirageC/Moment via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Learn Your Way is now available in Google Labs. Google's education-centered AI models personalize material. AI companies continue to market study tools to younger users. Google is introducing a new way to interact with textbooks, using gen AI to personalize your studying methods. The experience, called Learn Your Way, uses LearnLM, Google's education-specific models, to first person

Trump's Biggest Fans Furious at His Embrace of AI

Partisan politics in the United States makes for a generally contentious atmosphere But these days, the mainstream rift isn't just between blue and red — even some of president Donald Trump's most diehard fanatics have become openly belligerent over the president's obsession with AI. Following the release this summer of president Trump's "AI Action Plan" — a sweeping blueprint outlining the white house's strategy to ramp up AI development while slashing regulation — a number of far-right stalwa

Eli Lilly to Build $5 Billion Drug Manufacturing Plant in Virginia

Eli Lilly announced plans on Tuesday to build a $5 billion drug manufacturing facility in Virginia. The announcement comes amid pressure from President Donald Trump to bring more drug manufacturing to the U.S. and threats to slap heavy tariffs on pharmaceuticals coming from overseas. The new manufacturing plant will be built west of Richmond, Virginia, in Goochland County, according to a press release from the company. Eli Lilly says it expects the project to be completed in five years and clai

Google to invest £5 billion in UK AI as Trump heads for state visit

General view of the Google headquarters in King's Cross as the tech giant faces a 5 billion pound lawsuit in the UK for allegedly abusing its online search dominance. Google owner Alphabet on Tuesday announced a £5 billion ($6.8 billion) investment in the U.K.'s artificial intelligence development, just as the country prepares for U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit this week. The U.S. president is scheduled to arrive in Britain on Tuesday evening, before the pomp and pageantry gets unde

Trump's willingness to let TikTok go dark motivated China to make deal, says Bessent

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a press conference, following a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, on the day of U.S.-China talks on trade, economic and national security issues, in Madrid, Spain, September 15, 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that President Donald Trump was willing to let TikTok go dark, and it was "what turned the tide" in the deal framework with China. "President Trump made it clear that he

Your Valdobbiadene Is at Risk of Shattering!

Did you buy any Kirkland Signature Prosecco Valdobbiadene at Coscto in the past year? You might want to be careful with that bottle. It could shatter for absolutely no discernible reason. Costco has sent out a warning to consumers who’ve purchased the Prosecco Valdobbiadene, a sparkling white wine, because the company says, “there is a risk of unopened bottles shattering, even when not handled or in use.” Unlike many other food recalls, this one specifically states that consumers shouldn’t ret

Locking Your Social Security Number Can Protect You From Identity Theft – Here's How It Works

Credit freezes are your free shield against thieves. fstop123/Getty Images Your Social Security number is a crucial piece of personal information. It's used for everything from getting a new job to securing lines of credit, making it a prime target for identity thieves. This nine-digit number is linked to health benefits, taxes and more. As we see major breaches happen more and more often, protecting your SSN is more important than ever. You can pay for monitoring, but there is a tougher, free

A TikTok deal may finally be happening

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that the United States and China have reached a framework deal on TikTok. Speaking to reporters in Madrid after two days of talks with his Chinese counterparts, Bessent said, “It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon.” President Trump said in a Truth Social post that he will be speaking with Xi Jinping this Friday regarding the potential deal, among other things. This breakthrough comes after the Trump administ

Trump Admin Says ‘Framework’ Reached for U.S. Owners to Take Control of TikTok

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the U.S. has “a framework for a TikTok deal,” suggesting that some kind of agreement is imminent to allow the social media platform to continue operating in the U.S. despite a law passed in 2024 that sought to ban the app or force a sale. The comments from Bessent came as he and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer took questions from reporters after two days of meetings with Chinese officials in Madrid. “We believe we have an agreement. It

US, China reach ‘framework’ deal for TikTok

In Brief The U.S. has reached a “framework” deal with China for social media platform TikTok, CNBC reported, citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” CNBC quoted Bessent as saying on the sidelines of a meeting between the two countries in Madrid on Monday. The news comes barely an hour after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on his social media platform Truth Social that a deal for the short-video app had bee

Titania Programming Language

Titania Programming Language Based on the Oberon-07 programming language designed by the late Niklaus Wirth. This is designed to be a language to teach compiler development with. Meaning behind the name: Titania is the wife of Oberon (Fairy King) in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_(A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream) This is just a codename, and probably not final for this teaching language Grammar module = "module" ident ";" [import_list] decl_sequ

The case against social media is stronger than you think

The Mob, 1935, by Carl Hoeckner 1. Introduction The philosopher Dan Williams recently published two pieces on social media— “Scapegoating the Algorithm” at Asterisk Magazine, and “The Case Against Social Media is Weaker Than You Think” at his Substack. As their titles attest to, both argue that the case against social media, on epistemic and political grounds, has been considerably overstated. I recently published a lengthy essay arguing the opposite: that the case against social media has, i

The Case Against Social Media Is Stronger Than You Think

The Mob, 1935, by Carl Hoeckner 1. Introduction The philosopher Dan Williams recently published two pieces on social media— “Scapegoating the Algorithm” at Asterisk Magazine, and “The Case Against Social Media is Weaker Than You Think” at his Substack. As their titles attest to, both argue that the case against social media, on epistemic and political grounds, has been considerably overstated. I recently published a lengthy essay arguing the opposite: that the case against social media has, i

Tesla board chair calls debate over Elon Musk’s $1T pay package ‘a little bit weird’

In Brief With Tesla shareholders set to vote on a proposed 10-year, $1 trillion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk in November, board chair Robyn Denholm spoke to The New York Times to defend what would be the largest pay package in corporate history. Denholm, who was also on the special committee that put the compensation proposal together, argued that Musk needs to be motivated by extraordinary challenges tied to extraordinary compensation. At the same time, she suggested he’s less inter

Kefir: Solo-developed full C17/C23 compiler with extensive validation

To whom it may concern, Today I release Kefir — an independent C17/C23 compiler. Solo-built. Extensively validated, for x86_64 & System-V ABI. With SSA-based optimization pipeline, DWARF-5 support and position-independent code generation. What? Implements the C17/C23 standard. Plus certain GNU C extensions. For Linux (glibc & musl), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD. Extensive and transparent validation suite. Compiles and runs well-known open source projects — GNU core- and binutils, Curl, Git, Ngi

Eden becomes the first Nintendo Switch emulator on the Google Play Store

Nick Fernandez / Android Authority TL;DR The first Nintendo Switch emulator is up on the Google Play Store. Eden Emulator is a fork of one of the most successful and infamous Switch emulators. Your phone will need to be running on Android 11 or later. At the end of last week, Nintendo Switch emulator Eden received a major update that saw the official stable release of version 0.0.3. This update fixed a number of bugs, provided some performance boosts, integrated EmuReady, and brought support

Lumina-DiMOO: An open-source discrete multimodal diffusion model

A striking photograph of a glass of orange juice on a wooden kitchen table, capturing a playful moment. The orange juice splashes out of the glass and forms the word "Smile" in a whimsical, swirling script just above the glass. The background is softly blurred, revealing a cozy, homely kitchen with warm lighting and a sense of comfort. A collection of vibrant red roses is artfully arranged on a rustic wooden surface. The roses, in full bloom, display their intricate petal layers and deep red hu

Becoming the person who does the thing

It can be disorienting when our beliefs shift. The world we helped create no longer exists, and our role in it transforms too. It can be unsettling, naturally. But that's kind of the point. Looking back at times when I held certain beliefs—about how the world works, and what my role in this story is—it can feel less like a mod was installed and more like an entirely new operating system was swapped in. Up until my late twenties, I could count the number of times I had been to the gym on one h

Senator demands to know status of 'duplicate' SSA database 'immediately'

A US Senator is demanding answers after a Social Security Administration (SSA) employee who blew the whistle on Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dealings involuntarily resigned last month, citing workplace hostility in response to his concerns. Republican Senator Mike Crapo (it's pronounced Cray-poe), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to the SSA's commissioner, Frank Bisignano, giving him just two weeks to provide answers to concerns raised last month by now-form

NASA found intriguing rocks on Mars, so where does that leave Mars Sample Return?

NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy was fired up on Wednesday when he joined a teleconference to talk about new scientific findings that concerned the potential for life to have once existed on Mars. "This is exciting news," said Duffy about an arrow-shaped rock on Mars found by NASA's Perseverance rover. The rock contained chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by ancient microbial life. The findings were intriguing, but not conclusive. Further study of the rocks in

How to Inspire K-12 Students to Study in Computing Disciplines in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Byte-A-Dynamo Workshops

Software engineering shouldn’t be gatekept to people who can afford an expensive degree. Recently, one group has been working hard to expand artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science teaching to students (ages 10-16) from low-income families in Maryland who have no or minimal computing backgrounds. Computing isn’t just for the elite; it’s for anyone with curiosity and creativity. But resources and training aren’t always widely accessible. That’s why a series of free workshops was introd

Brazil's Supreme Court finds Bolsonaro guilty of plotting military coup

A majority of Brazil’s supreme court judges have voted to convict the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a military coup, leaving the far-right populist facing a decades-long sentence for leading the criminal conspiracy. Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha ruled on ​Thursday that Bolsonaro – a former paratrooper who was elected president in 2018 – was guilty of seeking to forcibly cling to power after losing the 2022 election, meaning three of the five judges involved in the t