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Lisa Nandy Stays in Post as U.K. Culture Secretary, Kanishka Narayan Appointed First AI Minister
New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has reshuffled his cabinet but kept Lisa Nandy in place as Culture Secretary, making her one of the longest-serving holders of the role in a post that has seen frequent turnover. The decision brings continuity to a department currently handling several major issues affecting the country’s media and screen…
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Social Darwinists to tech bros: tracing the long fight against equality in US
Historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s new book, Country of Lords, traces a long lineage of American thinkers and figures who have resisted the ideal of equality, from founding father John Adams to modern tech figures such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Published amid celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the book arrives…
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Who’s afraid of the big, bad GPU?
A feature from The Verge examines the environmental and ethical costs of GPUs, the chips powering the current AI boom, arguing that scrutiny should extend beyond AI data centres to the broader history and use of graphics processors. The piece notes that hundreds of thousands of GPUs are being installed in data centres worldwide, but…
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Scalding hot AI accelerators have put datacenters in hot water. Two-phase cooling could chill them out
US startup Accelsius has commissioned research suggesting datacentres could cut cooling costs significantly by switching to two-phase cooling fluids for AI accelerators, which run far hotter than traditional server chips. The approach matters because the ongoing AI datacentre building boom, combined with rising electricity costs and supply constraints, has made cooling efficiency an increasingly important…
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A Device Hidden in Cars Across the US Leaves Them Vulnerable to Hacking and Paralysis. Patch It Now
Security researchers at UC San Diego have discovered a serious vulnerability in the KARR Security System, an aftermarket car alarm fitted to more than two million vehicles across the United States. The flaw allows anyone within Bluetooth range to remotely unlock a vehicle, disable its alarm, sound the horn, flash the lights, or even cut…
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Gritt exits stealth with $34 million for robots to build solar plants—then, everything else
Gritt, a robotics start-up founded by two Carnegie Mellon-trained roboticists, has exited stealth mode with $34 million in total funding to build AI-controlled robotic systems that install solar panels, aiming to address a labour shortage slowing the global solar build-out. Rather than developing bespoke robots, the company adapts off-the-shelf hardware, such as rented skidders and…
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Stop Saying Kids Can’t Read
At Jefferson County Middle School in one of Mississippi’s poorest counties, an eighth-grade English teacher’s first year has been dominated by preparation for the state’s standardised reading test, the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP). Literacy instruction has become heavily reliant on adaptive software programmes rather than teacher-led lessons, reflecting the intense pressure schools face to…
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What sense can we make of the madness at id Software?
Id Software, the studio behind Doom and Quake, cut 136 staff — more than half its workforce — as part of Microsoft’s wider layoffs, which saw 1,600 Xbox jobs lost with another 1,600 at risk. The scale of the cuts sparked fears that id’s proprietary id-tech engine could be abandoned in favour of Unreal Engine,…
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BBC Staff In Town Hall Revolt Over 1% Pay Rise, Job Cuts & Romesh Ranganathan Ad: “It’s Insulting”
BBC staff confronted director-general Matt Brittin at a heated town hall meeting on Monday, criticising a proposed 1% pay rise, anxiety over 2,000 planned job losses, and a new advertising campaign fronted by comedian Romesh Ranganathan. Employees said the below-inflation pay offer was “insulting” and made them feel like “second-rate citizens”, with some suggesting it…
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“Built for that world doesn’t mean built to require it”: Unity reveal their next game engine while walking a careful line around generative AI
Unity has announced Unity 7, the next version of its game development engine, notably without the controversial pricing changes that damaged the company’s reputation with developers in 2023. The announcement emphasises backwards compatibility, promising that existing projects, skills and code will carry forward smoothly, alongside new tools that let collaborators using third-party software contribute to…