An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Commerce Department said Monday it is proposing to require detailed reporting requirements for advanced artificial intelligence developers and cloud computing providers to ensure the technologies are safe and can withstand cyberattacks. The proposal from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security would set mandatory reporting to the federal government about development activities of "frontier" AI models and computing clusters. It would also require reporting on cybersecurity measures as well as outcomes from so-called red-teaming efforts like testing for dangerous capabilities including the ability to assist in cyberattacks or lowering barriers to entry for non-experts to develop chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. External red-teaming has been used for years in cybersecurity to identify new risks, with the term referring to U.S. Cold War simulations where the enemy was termed the "red team." [...] Commerce said the information collected under the proposal "will be vital for ensuring these technologies meet stringent standards for safety and reliability, can withstand cyberattacks, and have limited risk of misuse by foreign adversaries or non-state actors." Further reading: Biden Signs Executive Order To Oversee and Invest in AI

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: For years, Google has faced complaints about how it dominates the online advertising market. Many of the concerns stem from the internet giant's suite of software known as Google Ad Manager, which websites around the world use to sell ads on their sites. The technology conducts split-second auctions to place ads each time a user loads a page. The dominance of that technology has landed Google in federal court. On Monday, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia will preside over the start of a trial in which the Department of Justice accuses the company of abusing control of its ad technology and violating antitrust law (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source).

It would be Google's second antitrust trial in less than a year. In August, a federal judge ruled in a separate case that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search, a major victory for the Justice Department. The new trial is the latest salvo by federal antitrust regulators against Big Tech, testing a century-old competition law against companies that have reshaped the way people shop, communicate and consume information. Federal regulators have also filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple,Amazon and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, saying those companies have also abused their power. Google's vice president for regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said in a blog post on Sunday that the Justice Department was "picking winners and losers in a highly competitive industry."

"With the cost of ads going down and the number of ads sold going up, the market is working," she said. "The DOJ's case risks inefficiencies and higher prices -- the last thing that America's economy or our small businesses need right now."

Steven Levy, writing for Wired: My first story for WIRED -- yep, 31 years ago -- looked at a group of "crypto rebels" who were trying to pry strong encryption technology from the government-classified world and send it into the mainstream. Naturally I attempted to speak to someone at the National Security Agency for comment and ideally get a window into its thinking. Unsurprisingly, that was a no-go, because the NSA was famous for its reticence. Eventually we agreed that I could fax (!) a list of questions. In return I got an unsigned response in unhelpful bureaucratese that didn't address my queries. Even that represented a loosening of what once was total blackout on anything having to do with this ultra-secretive intelligence agency. For decades after its post-World War II founding, the government revealed nothing, not even the name, of this agency and its activities. Those in the know referred to it as "No Such Agency."

In recent years, the widespread adoption of encryption technology and the vital need for cybersecurity has led to more openness. Its directors began to speak in public; in 2012, NSA director Keith Alexander actually keynoted Defcon. I'd spent the entire 1990s lobbying to visit the agency for my book Crypto; in 2013, I finally crossed the threshold of its iconic Fort Meade Headquarters for an on-the-record conversation with officials, including Alexander. NSA now has social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. And there is a form on the agency website for podcasters to request guest appearances by an actual NSA-ite.

So it shouldn't be a total shock that NSA is now doing its own podcast. You don't need to be an intelligence agency to know that pods are a unique way to tell stories and hold people's attention. The first two episodes of the seven-part season dropped this week. It's called No Such Podcast, earning some self-irony points from the get-go. In keeping with the openness vibe, the NSA granted me an interview with an official in charge of the project -- one of the de facto podcast producers, a title that apparently is still not an official NSA job posting. Since NSA still gotta NSA, I can't use this person's name. But my source did point out that in the podcast itself, both the hosts and the guests -- who are past and present agency officials -- speak under their actual identities.

A month before its planned delivery after years of delay and cost growth, RTX's $7.6 billion ground network to control GPS satellites is still marred by problems that may further stall its acceptance by the US Space Force, congressional auditors said Monday. From a report: RTX's system of 17 ground stations for current and improved GPS satellites was supposed to be ready by October, when it would undergo a series of intense Space Force tests to assess whether it can be declared operational by December 2025. The system continues to draw the ire of lawmakers because it's running more than seven years late in a development phase that's about 73% costlier than initial projections.

Two rounds of testing by the company have been "marked by significant challenges that drove delays to the program's schedule," the Government Accountability Office said Monday in a broad review of the US military's GPS program, including improvements intended to block jamming by adversaries.

The Next Generation Operational Control System, known as OCX, is intended to provide improvements, including access to more secure, jam-resistant software for the military's use of the GPS navigation system, which is also depended on by civilians worldwide. "The program faces challenges from product deficiencies" that "create a risk of further delay," the Pentagon's Defense Contract Management Agency told the GAO, adding that it expects RTX at the earliest to deliver OCX by December.

U.S. Justice Department officials "are turning to the 3D-printing industry to help stop the proliferation of tiny pieces of plastic transforming weapons into illegal homemade machine guns," reports the Associated Press: "Law enforcement cannot do this alone," [U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Friday] during a gathering in Washington of federal law enforcement officials, members of the 3D-printing industry and academia. "We need to engage software developers, technology experts and leaders in the 3-D-printing industry to identify solutions in this fight...."

Guns with conversion devices have been used in several mass shootings, including one that left four dead at a sweet sixteen party in Alabama last year... Monaco on Friday also announced several other efforts designed to crack down on the devices, including a national training initiative for law enforcement and prosecutors.

The deputy attorney general is also launching a committee designed to help spot trends and gather intelligence.

Workers get the right to request a four-day workweek under a new proposal by the U.K. government. But a professor of economics at the University of Leeds argues "There remain problems, however" — starting with the fact that "under current laws, employers can still resist the requests of workers, if they want to." There is also the problem of unevenness in the effect of the law. While workers in well-paid jobs have bargaining leverage to assert their legal rights, others in lower-paid jobs face minimal protection and risk direct exploitation... [A]dvancing the case for a four-day working week is likely to be more difficult if it is seen as benefiting only one section of society (one that already enjoys strong rights and privileges)....

Another problem is the scope for compressed hours — working a five-day week of around 40 hours in four days. Under the new proposal, workers requesting and getting a four-day working week will still be required to put in the same hours. Longer work days may be welcomed by some — for example, they may cut down on childcare costs. But they risk undermining the benefits of a shorter working week. Indeed, they may threaten the health of workers by creating heavier work days which they need longer to recover from. At worst, a three-day weekend may be needed to recover from a four-day working week with longer days.
While a four-day work week could improve the quality of life and help address climate change, the analysis argues that the government's proposal ultimately raises issues about the "purpose and potential" of a four-day working week, possibly suggesting other policy changes that may also be needed. "It is important that low wages are addressed alongside work-time reduction."

• "If the government is serious about achieving a four-day working week to raise productivity and improve employee wellbeing, it needs to encourage trials in the public sector... "

• "The government also needs to target a future date, say 2040, for the realisation of a four-day working week. This could be facilitated by establishing a partnership of unions and employers to identify barriers to a four-day working week and ways to overcome them."

"Solar farms could blanket millions of acres in the United States over the coming decades," writes the New York Times.

But "the sites that capture that energy take up land that wildlife needs to survive and thrive." "We have to address both challenges at the same exact time," said Rebecca Hernandez, a professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis, whose research focuses on how to do just that. Insects, those small animals that play a mighty role in supporting life on Earth, are facing alarming declines. Solar farms can offer them food and shelter by providing a diverse mix of native plants. Such plants can also decrease erosion, nourish the soil and store planet-warming carbon. They can also attract insects that improve pollination of nearby crops...

On a recent morning at the solar meadow in Ramsey, it was time to count insects... In solar pollinator habitat, Minnesota was an early leader among states. Since 2017, funded by the Department of Energy, Lee Walston [a landscape ecologist at Argonne National Laboratory] has been studying sites there and throughout the Midwest. "If you build it, will they come?" he asks in his research. So far, the answer is a resounding yes, if you grow the right plants. In a study published late last year, his team found that insect abundance had tripled over five years on test plots at two other Minnesota solar sites. The abundance of native bees grew twentyfold. The results come amid a global decline of wildlife that leaders are struggling to address.

Some of the most well-known insect species are in trouble: Later this year, the federal government is expected to rule on whether to place monarch butterflies on the Endangered Species List. North American birds, for their part, are down almost 30% since 1970. But at this site, called Anoka County Solar, acoustic monitoring has documented 73 species of birds, presumably attracted by the buffet of seeds and insects. Some build nests in the structures supporting the panels. Mammals are showing up, too... What makes this meadow possible is the height of the panels. A prairie restoration firm had told ENGIE, the owner and developer, that taller panels would allow for a sharp increase in native vegetation species, providing much more ecological diversity, said John Gantner, the director of engineering and delivery for ENGIE's smaller-scale sites. The price of the additional steel and the native seeds were "insignificant to the overall project cost," Gantner said. Over the life of the project, ENGIE has found, pollinator-friendly landscaping actually saves money because it needs far less mowing...

Nationwide, it's unclear what portion of solar farms include any kind of pollinator habitat. The federal project that Walston is part of has a running rough count of just under 24,000 acres. That's compared with about 600,000 acres of currently operating large-scale sites across the country, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, with a sharp increase expected over the next couple decades.
The article adds that it also helps develoipers get their projects approved "at a time when communities are increasingly wary of vast solar farms. Developers are taking note..."

Others have also suggested "agrivoltaics" — where farming land is also used for generating renewable energy.

Wired interviews America's foreign policy chief, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, about U.S. digital polices, starting with a new "cybersecurity bureau" created in 2022 (which Wired previously reported includes "a crash course in cybersecurity, telecommunications, privacy, surveillance, and other digital issues.") Look, what I've seen since coming back to the State Department three and a half years ago is that everything happening in the technological world and in cyberspace is increasingly central to our foreign policy. There's almost a perfect storm that's come together over the last few years, several major developments that have really brought this to the forefront of what we're doing and what we need to do. First, we have a new generation of foundational technologies that are literally changing the world all at the same time — whether it's AI, quantum, microelectronics, biotech, telecommunications. They're having a profound impact, and increasingly they're converging and feeding off of each other.

Second, we're seeing that the line between the digital and physical worlds is evaporating, erasing. We have cars, ports, hospitals that are, in effect, huge data centers. They're big vulnerabilities. At the same time, we have increasingly rare materials that are critical to technology and fragile supply chains. In each of these areas, the State Department is taking action. We have to look at everything in terms of "stacks" — the hardware, the software, the talent, and the norms, the rules, the standards by which this technology is used.

Besides setting up an entire new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy — and the bureaus are really the building blocks in our department — we've now trained more than 200 cybersecurity and digital officers, people who are genuinely expert. Every one of our embassies around the world will have at least one person who is truly fluent in tech and digital policy. My goal is to make sure that across the entire department we have basic literacy — ideally fluency — and even, eventually, mastery. All of this to make sure that, as I said, this department is fit for purpose across the entire information and digital space.
Wired notes it was Blinken's Department that discovered China's 2023 breach of Microsoft systems. And on the emerging issue of AI, Blinken cites "incredible work done by the White House to develop basic principles with the foundational companies." The voluntary commitments that they made, the State Department has worked to internationalize those commitments. We have a G7 code of conduct — the leading democratic economies in the world — all agreeing to basic principles with a focus on safety. We managed to get the very first resolution ever on artificial intelligence through the United Nations General Assembly — 192 countries also signing up to basic principles on safety and a focus on using AI to advance sustainable development goals on things like health, education, climate. We also have more than 50 countries that have signed on to basic principles on the responsible military use of AI. The goal here is not to have a world that is bifurcated in any way. It's to try to bring everyone together.

Digital rights activists want device manufacturers to disclose a "guaranteed minimum support time" for devices — and federal regulations ensuring a product's core functionality will work even after its software updates stop.

Influential groups including Consumer Reports, EFF, the Software Freedom Conservancy, iFixit, and U.S. Pirg have now signed a letter to the head of America's Consumer Protection bureau (at the Federal Trade Commision), reports The Register: In an eight-page letter to the Commission (FTC), the activists mentioned the Google/Levis collaboration on a denim jacket that contained sensors enabling it to control an Android device through a special app. When the app was discontinued in 2023, the jacket lost that functionality. The letter also mentions the "Car Thing," an automotive infotainment device created by Spotify, which bricked the device fewer than two years after launch and didn't offer a refund...

Environmental groups and computer repair shops also signed the letter... "Consumers need a clear standard for what to expect when purchasing a connected device," stated Justin Brookman, director of technology policy at Consumer Reports and a former policy director of the FTC's Office of Technology, Research, and Investigation. "Too often, consumers are left with devices that stop functioning because companies decide to end support without little to no warning. This leaves people stranded with devices they once relied on, unable to access features or updates...."

Brookman told The Register that he believes this is the first such policy request to the FTC that asks the agency to help consumers with this dilemma. "I'm not aware of a previous effort from public interest groups to get the FTC to take action on this issue — it's still a relatively new issue with no clear established norms," he wrote in an email. "But it has certainly become an issue" that comes up more and more with device makers as they change their rules about product updates and usage.
"Both switching features to a subscription and 'bricking' a connected device purchased by a consumer in many cases are unfair and deceptive practices," the groups write, arguing that the practices "infringe on a consumer's right to own the products they buy." They're requesting clear "guidance" for manufacturers from the U.S. government. The FTC has a number of tools at its disposal to help establish standards for IoT device support. While a formal rulemaking is one possibility, the FTC also has the ability to issue more informal guidance, such as its Endorsement Guides12 and Dot Com Disclosures.13 We believe the agency should set norms...
The groups are also urging the FTC to:

• Encourage tools and methods that enable reuse if software support ends.

• Conduct an educational program to encourage manufacturers to build longevity into the design of their products.

• Protect "adversarial interoperability"... when a competitor or third-party creates a reuse or modification tool [that] adds to or converts the old device.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Z00L00K for sharing the article.

The New York Times analyzed over 3.2 million Telegram messages from 16,220 channels. Their conclusion? Telegram "offers features that enable criminals, terrorists and grifters to organize at scale and to sidestep scrutiny from the authorities" — and that Telegram "has looked the other way as illegal and extremist activities have flourished openly on the app."

Or, more succinctly: "Telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement, according to a four-month investigation." Look deeper, and a dark underbelly emerges. Uncut lumps of cocaine and shards of crystal meth are for sale on the app. Handguns and stolen checks are widely available. White nationalists use the platform to coordinate fight clubs and plan rallies. Hamas broadcast its Oct. 7 attack on Israel on the site... The Times investigation found 1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost 1 million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000 followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries.

Hamas, the Islamic State and other militant groups have thrived on Telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels. The Times analyzed more than 40 channels associated with Hamas, which showed that average viewership surged up to 10 times after the Oct. 7 attacks, garnering more than 400 million views in October. Telegram is "the most popular place for ill-intentioned, violent actors to congregate," said Rebecca Weiner, the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York Police Department. "If you're a bad guy, that's where you will land...." [Telegram] steadfastly ignores most requests for assistance from law enforcement agencies. An email inbox used for inquiries from government agencies is rarely checked, former employees said...
"It is easy to search and find channels selling guns, illicit narcotics, prescription drugs and fraudulent ATM cards, called clone cards..." according to the article. The Times "found at least 50 channels openly selling contraband, including guns, drugs and fraudulent debit cards." In December 2022, Hayden Espinosa began serving a 33-month sentence in federal prison in Louisiana for buying and selling illegal firearms and weapon parts he made with 3D printers. That did not stop his business. Using cellphones that had been smuggled into prison, Espinosa continued his illicit trade on a Telegram channel... Espinosa's gun market on Telegram might never have been uncovered except that one of its members was Payton Gendron, who massacred 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in 2022. Investigators scouring his life online for motives for the shooting discovered the channel, which also featured racist and extremist views he had shared.
"Operating like a stateless organization, Telegram has long behaved as if it were above the law," the article concludes — though it adds that "In many democratic countries, patience with the app is wearing thin.

"The European Union is exploring new oversight of Telegram under the Digital Services Act, a law that forces large online platforms to police their services more aggressively, two people familiar with the plans said."

Altera AI's home page says their mission is "to create digital human beings that live, care, and grow with us," adding that their company builds machines "with fundamental human qualities, starting with friends that can play video games with you."

And while their agents can function in many different games and apps, Altera used Minecraft to launch "the first-ever simulation of over 1,000 collaborating autonomous AI agents," reports ReadWrite, "working together in a Minecraft world, all of which can operate for hours or days without intervention from humans." The agents have already started to develop their own economy, culture, religion, and government, with the AI already working on establishing its own systems. The CEO Robert Yang took to X to share the news and introduce Project Sid...

So far, the agents have already formed a merchant hub, have voted in a democracy, spread religions, and collected five times more distinct items than before... "Though starting in games, we're solving the deepest issues facing agents: coherence, multi-agent collaboration, and long-term progression," said the CEO.
According to the video, the most active trader in their simulation was the priest — because he was bribing the other townsfolk to convert to his religion. (Which apparently involved the Flying Spaghetti Monster...) "We run these worlds every day, and they're always different," the video's narrator says, while pointing out that their agents had collected 32% of all the items in Minecraft — five times more than anything ever reported for an individual agent.

"Sid starts in Minecraft, but we are already going beyond," CEO Yang says in the video, calling it "the first-ever agent civilization."

The electric revolution has given way to a gradual transformation, but the groundwork is already being laid for the future. From a report: The Department of Energy recently highlighted this by noting the number of publicly available EV chargers has doubled since President Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021. According to the government, there are now more than 192,000 publicly available charging ports in the United States and around 1,000 are being added every week. The Department of Energy credited the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as aiding the buildout, which is helping to bring charging infrastructure to rural, suburban, and urban communities.

The law provided funding for a $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program. A big chunk of that money is now heading out as the Biden administration recently announced $521 million in grants to support projects in 29 states as well as the District of Columbia and a few tribal areas. This will result in more than 9,200 charging ports being added, which means each one will cost roughly $56,630 -- although California's West Coast Truck Charging and Fueling Corridor Project also includes a hydrogen component.

The largest dam removal project in U.S. history has been completed with the demolition of four dams on the Klamath River, marking a significant victory for tribal nations on the Oregon-California border who have long fought to restore the river to its natural state. However, as CNN's Rachel Ramirez and the BBC's Lucy Sherriff both highlight, the restoration of salmon populations and surrounding ecosystems is "only just beginning." From the report: The removal of the four hydroelectric dams -- Iron Gate Dam, Copco Dams 1 and 2, and JC Boyle Dam -- allows the region's iconic salmon population to swim freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries, which the species have not been able to do for over a century since the dams were built. Mark Bransom, chief executive officer of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the nonprofit group created to oversee the project, said it was a "celebratory moment," as his staff members, conservationists, government officials and tribal members gathered and cheered on the bank of the river near where the largest of the dams, Iron Gate, once stood. [...] The Yurok Tribe in Northern California are known as the "salmon people." To them, the salmon are sacred species that are central to their culture, diet and ceremonies. As the story goes, the spirit that created the salmon also created humans and without the fish, they would cease to exist. Amy Bowers-Cordalis, a member of and general counsel for the Yurok Tribe, said seeing those dams come down meant "freedom" and the start of the river's "healing process." [...]

The utility company PacifiCorps -- a subsidiary of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Energy -- built the dams in the early to mid-1900s, without tribal consent, to generate electricity for parts of the growing West. But the dams severely disrupted the lifecycle of the salmon, blocking the fish from accessing their historic spawning grounds. Then there's the climate crisis: Warm water and drought-fueled water shortages in the Klamath River killed salmon eggs and young fish due to low oxygen and lack of food and allowed the spread of viruses. [...] As for the reason the dams were constructed in the first place -- electricity -- removing them won't hurt the power supply much, experts say. Even at full capacity, all four dams produced less than 2% of PacifiCorp's energy, according to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation. Up next is ramping up restoration work. Bransom said they plan to put down nearly 16 billion seeds of almost 100 native species across 2,200-acres of land in the Klamath River Basin. And after more than a century, the fish can now swim freely. Yurok's Bowers-Cordalis said seeing the river reconnected is a form of giving their land back, which is really the "ultimate reward."

The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have signed the first "legally binding" international AI treaty on Thursday, the Council of Europe human rights organization said. Called the AI Convention, the treaty promotes responsible innovation and addresses the risks AI may pose. Reuters reports: The AI Convention mainly focuses on the protection of human rights of people affected by AI systems and is separate from the EU AI Act, which entered into force last month. The EU's AI Act entails comprehensive regulations on the development, deployment, and use of AI systems within the EU internal market. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is an international organization distinct from the EU with a mandate to safeguard human rights; 46 countries are members, including all the 27 EU member states. An ad hoc committee in 2019 started examining the feasibility of an AI framework convention and a Committee on Artificial Intelligence was formed in 2022 which drafted and negotiated the text. The signatories can choose to adopt or maintain legislative, administrative or other measures to give effect to the provisions.

Francesca Fanucci, a legal expert at ECNL (European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting) who contributed to the treaty's drafting process alongside other civil society groups, told Reuters the agreement had been "watered down" into a broad set of principles. "The formulation of principles and obligations in this convention is so overbroad and fraught with caveats that it raises serious questions about their legal certainty and effective enforceability," she said. Fanucci highlighted exemptions on AI systems used for national security purposes, and limited scrutiny of private companies versus the public sector, as flaws. "This double standard is disappointing," she added.

AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Broadcom, alleging that Broadcom is refusing to honor an extended support agreement for VMware software unless AT&T purchases additional subscriptions it doesn't need. The company warns the consequences could risk massive outages for AT&T's customer support operations and critical federal services, including the U.S. President's office. The Register reports: A complaint [PDF] filed last week in the Supreme Court of New York State explains that AT&T holds perpetual licenses for VMware software and paid for support services under a contract that ends on September 8. The complaint also alleges that AT&T has an option to extend that support deal for two years -- provided it activates the option before the end of the current deal. AT&T's filing claims it exercised that option, but that Broadcom "is refusing to honor" the contract. Broadcom has apparently told AT&T it will continue to provide support if the comms giant "agrees to purchase scores of subscription services and software." AT&T counters that it "does not want or need" those subscriptions, because they:

- Would impose significant additional contractual and technological obligations on AT
- Would require AT&T to invest potentially millions to develop its network to accommodate the new software;
- May violate certain rights of first refusal that AT&T has granted to third parties;
- Would cost AT&T tens of millions more than the price of the support services alone.

[...] The complaint also suggests Broadcom's refusal to extend support creates enormous risk for US national security -- some of the ~8,600 servers that host AT&T's ~75,000 VMs "are dedicated to various national security and public safety agencies within the federal government as well as the Office of the President." Other VMs are relied upon by emergency responders, and still more "deliver services to millions of AT&T customers worldwide" according to the suit. Without support from Broadcom, AT&T claims it fears "widespread network outages that could cripple the operations of millions of AT&T customers worldwide" because it may not be able to fix VMware's software.

Apple announced it is planning to bring its Find My service to South Korea in early 2025. Originally released in 2010, the Find My service has been unavailable in South Korea, making it the last country without access to Apple's tracking feature. AppleInsider reports: In July 2024, complaints from users in South Korea reached a point where they were finally petitioning the government to allow Apple's Find My feature to work. Any iPhone made for sale in South Korea had Find My permanently disabled, so it wouldn't work even when the owner was in a different country. Now in a statement on its Korean website, Apple has announced that it plans to bring Find My to the country shortly.

"Apple plans to introduce the 'Find My' network in Korea in the spring of 2025," says a brief statement (in translation). "Users in Korea will soon be able to use the Find My app to find their Apple devices and personal belongings with their personal information protected, and check the location of friends and family." [...] According to the user petition submitted to the National Assembly Petition website of South Korea, Apple has said that Find My is disabled "because of internal policy."

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally opened an investigation into Ticketmaster's compliance with consumer protection law in relation to the sale of Oasis concert tickets. From a report: The CMA said on Thursday that it is investigating whether "Ticketmaster has engaged in unfair commercial practices which are prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008"; "People were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called 'dynamic pricing' with prices changing depending on demand, and how this would operate, including the price they would pay for any tickets purchased"; and if "People were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time -- at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay, potentially impacting their purchasing decisions." The CMA said that it will now engage with Ticketmaster and gather evidence to consider whether it thinks the company has broken consumer protection law.

Volvo now says it will push back its deadline to sell only electric vehicles by 2030, citing the need for stronger government support. "The new plans call for 90 to 100% of global sales to be electrified, including EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs)," reports Electrek. "The other up to 10% will be "a limited number of hybrids" if needed. By 2025, Volvo expects 50 to 60% of sales to be electrified." From the report: Volvo was one of the first automakers to set a 100% EV sales goal by 2030. The announcement was made over three years ago in March 2021. The plan was to sell only fully electric cars while phasing out "any car in its global portfolio with an internal combustion engine, including hybrids." [...]

Volvo has already launched five all-electric models: the EX40, EC40, EX30, EM90, and the EX90. After delivering its first model in January, the Volvo EX30 is already the third best-selling EV in Europe. Another five EVs are in development. However, Volvo said the shift comes as the charging infrastructure rollout has been out slower than expected, and government incentives have been withdrawn. Volvo is calling for stronger and more stable government policies to support the transition to EVs.

Volvo also adjusted its CO2 reduction goal. The company aims to reduce CO2 emissions per car by 65% to 75% by 2030 (using 2018 as a baseline). That's down from the previous 75% reduction target. Next year, Volvo aims for a 30 to 35% reduction (with 2018 as a baseline), down from 40%. The company is still working with suppliers to cut CO2 emissions across its value chain. "We are resolute in our belief that our future is electric," said Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan. "An electric car provides a superior driving experience."

Despite this, "it is clear that the transition to electrification will not be linear, and customers and markets are moving at different speeds of adoption," Rowan explained.

The Biden-Harris administration's big bet on Intel to lead a US chipmaking renaissance is in grave trouble as a result of the company's mounting financial struggles, creating a potentially damaging setback for the country's most ambitious industrial policy in decades. From a report: Five months after the president traveled to Arizona to unveil a potential $20 billion package of incentives alongside Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger, there are growing questions around when -- or if -- Intel will get its hands on that money. Intel's woes also may jeopardize the government's ability to reach its policy goals, which include establishing a secure supply of cutting-edge chips for the Pentagon and making a fifth of the world's advanced processors by 2030.

Intel is mired in a sales slump worse than anticipated and hemorrhaging cash, forcing its board to consider increasingly drastic actions -- including possibly splitting off its manufacturing division or paring back global factory plans, Bloomberg reported last week. That threatens to further complicate its quest for government funding, at a time when Intel desperately needs the help. The Silicon Valley company is supposed to receive $8.5 billion in grants and $11 billion in loans from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, but only if the chipmaker meets key milestones -- and after significant due diligence. That process, which applies to all Chips Act winners, has been clear from the outset, and aims to ensure that companies only get taxpayer dollars once they've actually delivered on their promises. Intel, like other potential recipients, hasn't received any money yet.

Efforts to add Rust code to the Linux kernel has suffered a setback as one of the maintainers of the Rust for Linux project has stepped down -- citing frustration with "nontechnical nonsense," according to The Register: Wedson Almeida Filho, a software engineer at Microsoft who has overseen the Rust for Linux project, announced his resignation in a message to the Linux kernel development mailing list. "I am retiring from the project," Filho declared. "After almost four years, I find myself lacking the energy and enthusiasm I once had to respond to some of the nontechnical nonsense, so it's best to leave it up to those who still have it in them."

[...] Memory safety bugs are regularly cited as the major source of serious software vulnerabilities by organizations overseeing large projects written in C and C++. So in recent years there's been a concerted push from large developers like Microsoft and Google, as well as from government entities like the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to use memory-safe programming languages -- among them Rust. Discussions about adding Rust to Linux date back to 2020 and were realized in late 2022 with the release of Linux 6.1. "I truly believe the future of kernels is with memory-safe languages," Filho's note continued. "I am no visionary but if Linux doesn't internalize this, I'm afraid some other kernel will do to it what it did to Unix."