Category Archives: Slashdot

Alibaba Now Sells a $200,000 Diamond-Making Machine

Ars Technica’s Benj Edwards writes: In an age when you can get just about anything online, it’s probably no surprise that you can buy a diamond-making machine for $200,000 on Chinese eCommerce site Alibaba. If, like me, you haven’t been paying attention to the diamond industry, it turns out that the availability of these machines… Read More »

Google’s AI Will Help Decide Whether Unemployed Workers Get Benefits

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Within the next several months, Nevada plans to launch a generative AI system powered by Google that will analyze transcripts of unemployment appeals hearings and issue recommendations to human referees about whether or not claimants should receive benefits. The system will be the first of its kind… Read More »

Sony’s New PS5 Heralds the End of Disc Drives

Earlier today, Sony unveiled the $699.99 PlayStation 5 Pro — a mid-generation upgrade model for the PlayStation 5 that requires a separate $79.99 disc drive if you want to play your physical games. As The Verge’s Jay Peters writes, the announcement “may have marked the beginning of the end for game console disc drives.” From… Read More »

Windows Update Zero-Day Being Exploited To Undo Security Fixes

wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek: Microsoft on Tuesday raised an alarm for in-the-wild exploitation of a critical flaw in Windows Update, warning that attackers are rolling back security fixes on certain versions of its flagship operating system. The Windows flaw, tagged as CVE-2024-43491 and marked as actively exploited, is rated critical and carries a… Read More »

SpaceX Launches a Billionaire To Conduct the First Private Spacewalk

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: A daredevil billionaire rocketed back into orbit Tuesday, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk and venture farther than anyone since NASA’s Apollo moonshots. Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around, which included developing and… Read More »

China’s Huawei Shows the World Its $2,800 ‘Trifold’ Phone

An anonymous reader shares a report: Over successive administrations, the U.S. government has used stiff trade restrictions to try to stifle the Chinese telecom giant Huawei. In turn, the company never misses an opportunity to show that it is still standing. Last year, at the tail end of a visit to China by Gina Raimondo,… Read More »