Technology
Prop 45 in California could be hiding a loophole for data centers
A high-stakes California ballot measure pitched as a fast track for "essential" infrastructure could wind up giving data center developers a loophole to evade public scrutiny, env…
New Zelda and GTA represent a games industry that no longer exists
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the biggest game releases of the year, follow Andrew Webster. The Step…
Salesforce to buy Rune in its most significant national security deal
Salesforce has agreed to buy Rune Technologies. The US startup’s AI software helps the military plan supplies near the front line. Salesforce announced the deal on Thursday. Rune …
Google in talks to join Trump’s Golden Dome programme, Bloomberg reports
Alphabet’s Google is in talks with the US Defense Department to help protect the data behind Golden Dome, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Sana Pashankar and Kiel Porter cited people…
French MPs vote for a €0.055 tax on every gigabyte sent to users
France’s National Assembly has voted to tax companies for every gigabyte of data they send to French internet users. The measure, an amendment to the 2027 budget, would charge con…
EU tells countries to pause national social media bans for a year
The European Commission has told EU countries to put national social media bans for children on hold for 12 months. It wants a single EU law instead. Austria is the first country …
Meta built a humanoid robot with China’s Fourier, The Information reports
Meta has built a prototype humanoid robot with Chinese robotics company Fourier in about three months, and the two are already working on a second version. Jyoti Mann reported the…
DeepSeek open-sources Super-Agent, a coding agent that reads team chats
DeepSeek has released the code for Super-Agent, an experimental AI agent that takes on coding work for a software team. The Chinese AI lab put it on GitHub under the name dsh-supe…
Baseten set to more than double its value to $30bn, Bloomberg reports
Baseten, the AI inference startup, is set to raise about $2bn at a valuation of up to $30bn, more than double its price in June. Rebecca Torrence and Bailey Lipschultz reported th…
Finnish police open investigation into Google’s Muhos data centre site
Finnish police have opened a criminal investigation into Google’s data centre site in Muhos, in the north of the country. The Oulu Police Department is investigating suspected env…
UK watchdog opens an investigation into Meta’s AI terms for publishers
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into Meta’s commercial terms for businesses. It will examine whether Meta is abusing a dominant positi…
FBI says North Korea stole more than $6bn in the Binance hack
The FBI has blamed the Binance hack on North Korea. On Saturday, the bureau said North Korea stole more than $6bn in virtual assets from Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchan…
CVSS 10.0 LXD, MicroCloud Flaw Lets Attackers Impersonate Trusted Clients Without a Private Key
A critical flaw in Canonical's LXD and MicroCloud let an attacker log in as a trusted client without holding that client's private key. To do it, the attacker had to reach their H…
Hackers Steal About $2.7 Million From Polymarket Traders via Hijacked DebugBear Script
Malicious code on the website of prediction market Polymarket sold some signed-in traders' positions and moved their funds to the hackers on October 29. The code had replaced a pa…
NetamLoader Malware Targets Government Windows 10 Systems in Asia via .NET Injection
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of what has been described as a "highly sophisticated infection chain" targeting government organizations in Asia. The activity, d…
FBI Links North Korea's TraderTraitor to Record $6.43 Billion Binance Crypto Heist
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-aligned elite hacking …
Data centers are now a midterm issue, even in Brooklyn
At a Brooklyn midterm party five days before Election Day, every conversation, from a council member’s fireside chat to a debate about the Democratic Party, kept circling back to …
These firms you've never heard of are feeding fears the AI bubble could burst
The amount of debt held by data centres is measured in the tens of billions of pounds.
5 expensive hobbies where owning a 3D printer actually saves you money
While a personal 3D printer is certainly an investment, if you regularly engage with an expensive hobby, it might actually save you some cash.
Amazon made the AUX input on older Alexa devices less useful
Amazon has made a quiet change to older Echo speakers that will leave owners rethinking how they use their devices and manage their home audio setups.
How big and powerful is SpaceX's Starship rocket?
SpaceX's Starship has a big role to play in NASA's plans to land astronauts on the Moon. Here's how big this rocket is and how its two stages work together.
Why your Apple AirPods' battery drains so fast and how to make it last longer
It's annoying when your Apple AirPods run out of juice, but the culprit might not be what you think. Here's what's going on and what you can do about it.
GM will pay $220m to settle claims it sold drivers’ Smart Driver data
General Motors will pay $220m to 35 US states and the District of Columbia over drivers’ data. The states said GM sold it to data brokers, who sold it on to insurance companies. G…
The Slate vs Ford Fathom debate might be settled by this one key tech feature
Slate and Ford are both building affordable electric pickups, and that means compromises. But the two automakers are taking very different paths to get there.