Tech News
A New Ion-Based Quantum Computer Makes Error Correction Simpler
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 22:45:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: The US- and UK-based company Quantinuum today unveiled Helios, its third-generation quantum computer, which includes expanded computing power and error correction capability. Like all other existing quantum computers, Helios is not powerful enough to execute the industry's dream money-making algorithms, such as those that would be useful for materials discovery or financial modeling. But Quantinuum's machines, which use individual ions as qubits, could be easier to scale up than quantum computers that use superconducting circuits as qubits, such as Google's and IBM's. "Helios is an important proof point in our road map about how we'll scale to larger physical systems," says Jennifer Strabley, vice president at Quantinuum, which formed in 2021 from the merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum. Honeywell remains Quantinuum's majority owner. Located at Quantinuum's facility in Colorado, Helios comprises a myriad of components, including mirrors, lasers, and optical fiber. Its core is a thumbnail-size chip containing the barium ions that serve as the qubits, which perform the actual computing. Helios computes with 98 barium ions at a time; its predecessor, H2, used 56 ytterbium qubits. The barium ions are an upgrade, as they have proven easier to control than ytterbium. These components all sit within a chamber that is cooled to about 15 Kelvin (-432.67 ), on top of an optical table. Users can access the computer by logging in remotely over the cloud. [...] Helios is noteworthy for its qubits' precision, says Rajibul Islam, a physicist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, who is not affiliated with Quantinuum. The computer's qubit error rates are low to begin with, which means it doesn't need to devote as much of its hardware to error correction. Quantinuum had pairs of qubits interact in an operation known as entanglement and found that they behaved as expected 99.921% of the time. "To the best of my knowledge, no other platform is at this level," says Islam. [...] Besides increasing the number of qubits on its chip, another notable achievement for Quantinuum is that it demonstrated error correction "on the fly," says David Hayes, the company's director of computational theory and design, That's a new capability for its machines. Nvidia GPUs were used to identify errors in the qubits in parallel. Hayes thinks that GPUs are more effective for error correction than chips known as FPGAs, also used in the industry. Quantinuum has used its computers to investigate the basic physics of magnetism and superconductivity. Earlier this year, it reported simulating a magnet on H2, Quantinuum's predecessor, with the claim that it "rivals the best classical approaches in expanding our understanding of magnetism." Along with announcing the introduction of Helios, the company has used the machine to simulate the behavior of electrons in a high-temperature superconductor. Quantinuum is expanding its Helios line with a new system in Minnesota. It's also started developing its fourth-generation quantum computer, Sol, set for 2027 with 192 qubits. Then, a fifth-generation system, Apollo, is expected in 2029 with thousands of qubits and full fault tolerance. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 19:30:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Google Maps is heading in a new direction with artificial intelligence sitting in the passenger's seat. Fueled by Google's Gemini AI technology, the world's most popular navigation app will become a more conversational companion as part of a redesign announced Wednesday. The hands-free experience is meant to turn Google Maps into something more like an insightful passenger able to direct a driver to a destination while also providing nearby recommendations on places to eat, shop or sightsee, when asked for the advice. "No fumbling required -- now you can just ask," Google promised in a blog post about the app makeover. The AI features are also supposed to enable Google Maps to be more precise by calling out landmarks to denote the place to make a turn instead of relying on distance notifications. AI chatbots, like Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT, have sometimes lapsed into periods of making things up -- known as "hallucinations" in tech speak -- but Google is promising that built-in safeguards will prevent Maps from accidentally sending drivers down the wrong road. All the information that Gemini is drawing upon will be culled from the roughly 250 million places stored in Google Maps' database of reviews accumulated during the past 20 years. Google Maps' new AI capabilities will be rolling out to both Apple's iPhone and Android mobile devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Danish Authorities In Rush To Close Security Loophole In Chinese Electric Buses
it - Posted On:2025-11-05 17:15:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Authorities in Denmark are urgently studying how to close an apparent security loophole in hundreds of Chinese-made electric buses that enables them to be remotely deactivated. The investigation comes after transport authorities in Norway, where the Yutong buses are also in service, found that the Chinese supplier had remote access for software updates and diagnostics to the vehicles' control systems -- which could be exploited to affect buses while in transit. Amid concerns over potential security risks, the Norwegian public transport authority Ruter decided to test two electric buses in an isolated environment. Bernt Reitan Jenssen, Ruter's chief executive, said: "The testing revealed risks that we are now taking measures against. National and local authorities have been informed and must assist with additional measures at a national level." Their investigations found that remote deactivation could be prevented by removing the buses' sim cards, but they decided against this because it would also disconnect the bus from other systems. Ruter said it planned to bring in stricter security requirements for future procurements. Jenssen said it must act before the arrival of the next generation of buses, which could be even "more integrated and harder to secure." Movia, Denmark's largest public transport company, has 469 Chinese electric buses in operation -- 262 of which were manufactured by Yutong. Jeppe Gaard, Movia's chief operating officer, said he was made aware of the loophole last week. "This is not a Chinese bus problem," he said. "It is a problem for all types of vehicles and devices with Chinese electronics built in." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
T-Mobile Brings Free 911 Emergency Texting To AT&T and Verizon Customers
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 16:45:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: T-Mobile is opening up access to its Starlink-powered emergency texting service. The carrier announced on Wednesday that anyone with a compatible phone -- even AT&T and Verizon customers -- can sign up to text 911 over satellite for free. In July, T-Mobile launched its "T-Satellite" service to customers across the US for $10 per month, allowing both T-Mobile and non-T-Mobile customers to send messages, share their location, and access select apps over satellite. This service also includes texts to 911, but now, that's available for free. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Windows 11 Store Gets Ninite-Style Multi-App Installer Feature
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 16:00:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Microsoft Store on the web now lets you create a multi-app install package on Windows 11 that installs multiple applications from a single installer. This means you can now install multiple apps simultaneously without having to download each one manually. The experience is similar to that of the third-party app Ninite, a package manager that lets you install multiple apps at once. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Epic and Google Settle Antitrust Case With Global Fee Cuts and Easier Third-Party Store Access
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 12:45:01 Source: slashdot
Epic Games and Google have agreed to settle their long-running antitrust lawsuit. The settlement converts Judge James Donato's United States-only injunction into a global agreement extending through June 2032. Google will reduce its standard app store fees to either 20% or 9% depending on the transaction type. The company will also create a program in the next major Android release allowing alternative app stores to register and become what Google calls first-class citizens. Users will be able to install these registered app stores from a website with a single click using neutral language. The settlement addresses Epic's concerns about friction and scare screens that discouraged sideloading. Google will charge a 5% fee for transactions using Google Play Billing, separate from its service fee. Alternative payment options must be shown alongside Google Play Billing. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Kodak Quietly Begins Directly Selling Kodak Gold and Ultramax Film Again
it - Posted On:2025-11-05 12:00:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: Kodak quietly acknowledged this week that it will begin selling two famous types of film stock -- Kodak Gold 200 and Kodak Ultramax 400 -- directly to retailers and distributors in the U.S., another indication that the historic company is taking back control over how people buy its film. The release comes on the heels of Kodak announcing that it would make and sell two new stocks of film called Kodacolor 100 and Kodacolor 200 in October. On Monday, both Kodak Gold and Kodak Ultramax showed back up on Kodak's website as film stocks that it makes and sells. When asked by 404 Media, a company spokesperson said that it has "launched" these film stocks and will begin to "sell the films directly to distributors in the U.S. and Canada, giving Kodak greater control over our participation in the consumer film market." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Europe's Self-Driving Cars Aren't Even at the Starting Line
technology - Posted On:2025-11-05 10:45:00 Source: slashdot
Europe's self-driving car industry has fallen far behind the United States and China. Self-driving taxis developed by Tesla and Waymo have become commonplace in several American cities. Waymo overtook Lyft's market share in San Francisco in June. China operates a thriving robotaxi industry led by Baidu, WeRide and Pony AI. Europe has no established player and runs pilot projects in only a handful of cities. The most promising is Volkswagen-backed Moia in Germany. Markus Villig, chief executive of Estonian ride-hailing company Bolt Technology, told Brussels officials in mid-October that Europeans will move about their cities in American robotaxis by 2030 unless the European Commission acts quickly. He called for investment, regulatory clarity and restrictions on foreign competitors. Traffic laws governing self-driving tests vary at national and city levels across Europe. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a speech in Turin about AI adoption days before Villig's visit. Last week, Henna Virkkunen, the commission's technology chief, gathered carmakers and technologists to create a harmonized framework for self-driving cars. Waymo announced plans to provide driverless rides in the United Kingdom starting in 2026. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
DRAM Costs Surge Past Gold as AI Demand Strains Supply
it - Posted On:2025-11-05 09:30:00 Source: slashdot
DRAM contract prices surged 171.8% year-over-year as of the third quarter of 2025. The increase now exceeds the rate at which gold prices have climbed. ADATA chairman Chen Libai stated that the fourth quarter of 2025 will mark the beginning of a major DRAM bull market. He expects severe shortages to materialize in 2026. Memory manufacturers have shifted production priorities toward datacenter-focused memory types like RDIMM and HBM. Consumer DDR5 production has declined as a result. A Corsair Vengeance RGB dual-channel DDR5 kit that sold for $91 dollars in July now costs a $183 dollars on Newegg. The pricing trend extends to NAND flash and hard drives. Analysts project the increases will persist for at least four years, matching the duration of supply contracts that some companies have signed with Samsung and SK Hynix. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google's New Hurricane Model Was Breathtakingly Good This Season
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 22:45:01 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Although Google DeepMind's Weather Lab only started releasing cyclone track forecasts in June, the company's AI forecasting service performed exceptionally well. By contrast, the Global Forecast System model, operated by the US National Weather Service and is based on traditional physics and runs on powerful supercomputers, performed abysmally. The official data comparing forecast model performance will not be published by the National Hurricane Center for a few months. However, Brian McNoldy, a senior researcher at the University of Miami, has already done some preliminary number crunching. The results are stunning: A little help in reading the graphic is in order. This chart sums up the track forecast accuracy for all 13 named storms in the Atlantic Basin this season, measuring the mean position error at various hours in the forecast, from 0 to 120 hours (five days). On this chart, the lower a line is, the better a model has performed. The dotted black line shows the average forecast error for official forecasts from the 2022 to 2024 seasons. What jumps out is that the United States' premier global model, the GFS (denoted here as AVNI), is by far the worst-performing model. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the chart, in maroon, is the Google DeepMind model (GDMI), performing the best at nearly all forecast hours. The difference in errors between the US GFS model and Google's DeepMind is remarkable. At five days, the Google forecast had an error of 165 nautical miles compared to 360 nautical miles for the GFS model, more than twice as bad. This is the kind of error that causes forecasters to completely disregard one model in favor of another. But there's more. Google's model was so good that it regularly beat the official forecast from the National Hurricane Center (OFCL), which is produced by human experts looking at a broad array of model data. The AI-based model also beat highly regarded "consensus models," including the TVCN and HCCA products. For more information on various models and their designations, see here. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple Brings Its App Store To the Web
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 20:45:00 Source: slashdot
Apple has officially launched a web-based version of its App Store that lets users browse apps across all Apple devices through a redesigned interface. "There's no way to download apps from the App Store on the web, however," notes The Verge. "Apple just gives you the option to share an app or open it directly inside the App Store installed on your device." From the report: Now, when you navigate to apps.apple.com, you'll see the revamped interface instead of a webpage that just contains information about the App Store. [...] Along with the ability to switch between listings of apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, you can check out recommendations on the Today tab as well as sort apps by category, such as productivity, entertainment, adventure, and more. The new web-based App Store also serves as a portal where you can search for apps, too. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Windows 10 Update Incorrectly Tells Some Users They've Reached End-of-Life, Despite Having Extended Support
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 16:45:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft officially ended mainstream support for Windows 10 last month, nudging users to upgrade to Windows 11. While that led to almost an overnight technological revolution in Japan, elsewhere, it has caused a lot of confusion. Certain versions of Windows 10, like Enterprise LTSC -- and those enrolled in the ESU program -- are still scheduled to receive security updates through at least 2027, but they're starting to see out-of-support messages in Settings. Various users over the past few days reported that they're being subjected to end-of-life warnings in Windows, despite already qualifying for extended security updates through the ESU program. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 and �IoT Enterprise are business-oriented editions of the OS, so they're already supported up to 2032, but even they saw these incorrect messages. This widespread bug started to occur after the KB5066791 updates were pushed on October 14, 2025. Microsoft has already acknowledged this mishap and said, "The message, 'Your version of Windows has reached the end of support, might incorrectly display in the Windows Update Settings page," confirming it as a mistake. The company has already released a cloud config fix that should remove the message, but you need to be connected to the internet for that, and a restart is also required. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ferrari Aims at AI Generation With Crypto Auction For Le Mans Car
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 16:00:00 Source: slashdot
Ferrari is tapping into crypto markets and tech-rich youngsters with a planned new digital token that its wealthiest fans will be able to use in an auction for a Ferrari 499P, the endurance car that won three straight Le Mans titles. From a report: The plan for now is limited in scope and is an effort by the Italian sports car maker to tap into a trend among luxury brands seeking access to the growing wealth of younger tech entrepreneurs, as AI and data centres drive investment and markets around the world. It comes after Ferrari, which is also developing its first electric car, began accepting Bitcoin, ethereum and USDC for car purchases in the United States in 2023 and extended the service to Europe last year. Ferrari is working with Italian fintech Conio to launch the 'Token Ferrari 499P' for members of its Hyperclub -- which groups 100 of its most exclusive clients, with a passion for endurance races -- to trade amongst themselves and bid on the racing model. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
IBM To Cut Thousands of Roles in Focus on Software Growth
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 15:15:00 Source: slashdot
IBM will cut thousands of roles this quarter while it continues to shift focus to higher-growth software and services, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. From a report: "We routinely review our workforce through this lens and at times rebalance accordingly," Bloomberg quoted a company spokesperson saying. "In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon Accuses Perplexity of Computer Fraud, Demands It Stop AI Agent From Buying On Its Site
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 14:00:00 Source: slashdot
Amazon has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity AI demanding that the AI search startup stop allowing its AI browser agent, Comet, to make purchases online for users. From a report: The e-commerce giant is accusing Perplexity of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when its AI agent is shopping on a user's behalf, in violation of Amazon's terms of service, according to people familiar with the letter sent on Friday. The document also said Perplexity's tool degraded the Amazon shopping experience and introduced privacy vulnerabilities, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. In response, Perplexity said Amazon is bullying a smaller competitor with a rival AI agent shopping product. The clash between Amazon and Perplexity offers an early glimpse into a looming debate over how to handle the proliferation of so-called AI agents that field more complex tasks online for users, including shopping. Like OpenAI and Alphabet's Google, Perplexity has pushed to rethink the traditional web browser around AI, with the goal of having it streamline more actions for users, such as drafting emails and conducting research. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Meet the Real Screen Addicts: the Elderly
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 12:15:01 Source: slashdot
Britain's National Centre for Gaming Disorders has treated 67 people over the age of 40 since opening in 2019. The oldest patient was a 72-year-old woman with a smartphone gaming obsession. Britons over 65 spent more than three hours a day online on smartphones, computers and tablets last year, according to Ofcom. They spent more than five and a half hours watching broadcast television. Over-65s are more likely than under-25s to own tablets, smart televisions, e-readers, and desktop and laptop computers, a seven-country survey by GWI found. Nearly a fifth of 55- to 64-year-olds own a games console. Ipsit Vahia, who heads the Technology and Ageing Laboratory at McLean Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School, said some older adults are increasingly living their lives through their phones the way teenagers or adolescents sometimes do. A 2022 study in South Korea estimated that 15% of those aged 60-69 were at risk of phone addiction. A meta-analysis published in April of studies on more than 400,000 older adults found that over-50s who regularly used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who did not. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon Builds First Solo Subsea Cable Linking Maryland To Ireland
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 11:15:01 Source: slashdot
AWS today announced Fastnet, a subsea fiber-optic cable that will link Maryland's Eastern Shore to County Cork, Ireland. The project marks Amazon's first wholly-owned subsea cable system after previously participating in similar ventures through consortiums. The cable will carry data at speeds exceeding 320 terabits per second. Amazon did not disclose construction costs but expects the system to begin operations in 2028. The company is burying the cable roughly one and a half meters deep across the ocean floor. Installers will bore a horizontal tunnel from shore to shore. Amazon has added protective steel wiring to guard against ship anchors and deliberate sabotage. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
ISPs More Likely To Throttle Netizens Who Connect Through Carrier-Grade NAT: Cloudflare
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 11:15:01 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: Before the potential of the internet was appreciated around the world, nations that understood its importance managed to scoop outsized allocations of IPv4 addresses, actions that today mean many users in the rest of the world are more likely to find their connections throttled or blocked. So says Cloudflare, which last week published research that recalls how once the world started to run out of IPv4 addresses, engineers devised network address translation (NAT) so that multiple devices can share a single IPv4 address. NAT can handle tens of thousands of devices, but carriers typically operate many more. Internetworking wonks therefore developed Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT), which can handle over 100 devices per IPv4 address and scale to serve millions of users. That's useful for carriers everywhere, but especially valuable for carriers in those countries that missed out on big allocations of IPv4 because their small pool of available number resources means they must employ CGNAT to handle more users and devices. Cloudflare's research suggests carriers in Africa and Asia use CGNAT more than those on other continents. Cloudflare worried that could be bad for individual netizens. "CGNATs also create significant operational fallout stemming from the fact that hundreds or even thousands of clients can appear to originate from a single IP address," wrote Cloudflare researchers Vasilis Giotsas and Marwan Fayed. "This means an IP-based security system may inadvertently block or throttle large groups of users as a result of a single user behind the CGNAT engaging in malicious activity. Blocking the shared IP therefore penalizes many innocent users along with the abuser." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
EV Sales Plummet In October After Federal Tax Credit Ends
technology - Posted On:2025-11-04 05:15:00 Source: slashdot
Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Car and Driver: Sales of electric vehicles surged in September as shoppers rushed to take advantage of the $7500 federal EV tax credit before it disappeared at the end of the month. With the government subsidies now gone, EV sales were expected to take a hit in October. While only a few automakers still report sales on a monthly basis, the results we do have do not paint a rosy picture for EVs in a post-tax credit world. The Korean automakers were hit particularly hard by the loss of the tax credit. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was the fifth-best-selling EV through the third quarter of this year, experienced a 63 percent drop, moving 1642 units in October 2025, down from 4498 in 2024. Its platform-mates saw similar declines. The Kia EV6 moved just 508 units, down 71 percent versus the same month the year before, while the luxurious Genesis GV60 only found 93 buyers, a 54 percent slide year over year. Things were even worse at Honda. While the Acura ZDX was recently discontinued after just a single model year, the related Honda Prologue remains on sale but registered just 806 units, down 81 percent from 4130 sales in October 2024. [...] Obviously, this isn't the full picture, as several major players -- including General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen -- only release sales reports on a quarterly basis, and others, such as Tesla and Rivian, don't break out individual sales at all. But with four of the top 10 bestselling EVs through Q3 all showing noteworthy declines in October, it spells trouble for the EV market at large. The end-of-year sales figures will provide a much clearer picture of whether October was just a blip or the start of a much more widespread problem for EV sales. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AMD Will Continue Game Optimization Support For Older Radeon GPU's After All
technology - Posted On:2025-11-03 19:30:01 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Hardware: After a turbulent weekend of updates and clarifications, AMD has published an entire web page to assuage user backlash and reaffirm its commitment to continued support for its RDNA 1 and RDNA 2-based drives, following a spate of confusion surrounding its recent decision to put Radeon RX 5000 and 6000 series cards in "maintenance mode." This comes after AMD had to deny that the RX 7900 cards were losing USB-C power supply moving forward, even though the drive changelog said something quite different. Just last week, AMD released a new driver update for its graphics cards, and it went anything but smoothly. First, the wrong drivers were uploaded, and even after that was corrected, several glaring errors in the release notes required clarification. AMD was forced to correct claims about its RX 7900 cards, but at the time clarified that, indeed, RX 5000 and 6000 graphics cards were entering "Maintenance Mode," despite some RX 6000 cards being only around four years old. Now, though, AMD has either rolled back that decision or someone higher up the food chain has made a new call, as game optimizations are back on the menu for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 GPUs. "We've heard your feedback and want to clear up the confusion around the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 driver release," AMD said in a statement. "Your Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series GPUs will continue to receive: Game support for new releases, Stability and game optimizations, and Security and bug fixes," AMD said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.