Alex Forbes-Calvin / GamesIndustry.biz: Tim Sweeney says it “makes no sense” for stores like Steam to label games that are made using AI, since AI “will be involved in nearly all future production”  —  “It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.”

Christina Kyriasoglou / Bloomberg: Germany-based Quantum Systems, which sells surveillance drones that are being used by Ukraine, raised €180M, tripling its valuation to €3B since May  —  Quantum Systems, a German drone maker backed by Peter Thiel, boosted its valuation to €3 billion ($3.5 billion) …

quonset writes: Australia last updated their weather site a decade ago. In October, during one of the hottest days of the year, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) revealed its new web site and was immediately castigated for doing so. Complaints ranged from a confusing layout to not being able to find information. Farmers were particularly incensed when they found out they could no longer input GPS coordinates to find forecasts for a specific location. When it was revealed the cost of this update was A$96.5 million ($62.3 million), 20 times the original cost estimate, the temperature got even hotter. With more than 2.6 billion views a year, Bom tried to explain that the site's refresh -- prompted by a major cybersecurity breach in 2015 -- was aimed at improving stability, security and accessibility. It did little to satisfy the public. Some frustrated users turned to humour: "As much as I love a good game of hide and seek, can you tell us where you're hiding synoptic charts or drop some clues?" Malcolm Taylor, an agronomist in Victoria, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the redesign was a complete disaster. "I'm the person who needs it and it's not giving me the information I need," the plant and soil scientist said. As psychologist and neuroscientist Joel Pearson put it, "First you violate expectations by making something worse, then you compound the injury by revealing the violation was both expensive and avoidable. It's the government IT project equivalent of ordering a renovation, discovering the contractor has made your house less functional, and then learning they charged you for a mansion." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Twenty years after surgeons in France performed the world's first face transplant, the experimental field that procedure launched is now confronting a troubling record of patient deaths, buried negative data and a healthcare system that leaves recipients financially devastated and medically vulnerable. About 50 face transplants have been performed globally since Isabelle Dinoire received her partial face graft at University Hospital CHU Amiens-Picardie in November 2005. A 2024 JAMA Surgery study reported five-year graft survival of 85% and 10-year survival of 74%, concluding that the procedure is "an effective reconstructive option for patients with severe facial defects." The study did not track psychological wellbeing, financial outcomes, employment status or quality of life. Roughly 20% of face transplant patients have died from rejection, kidney failure, or heart failure. The anti-rejection medications that keep transplanted faces alive can destroy kidneys and weaken immune systems to the point where routine infections become life-threatening. In the United States, the Department of Defense has funded most operations, treating them as a frontier for wounded veterans, because private insurers refuse to cover the costs. Patients who survive the surgery often find themselves unable to afford medications, transportation to follow-up appointments or basic caregiving. The field's long-term grants cover surgical innovation but not the lifelong needs of the people who receive these transplants. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wall Street Journal: Sources detail how Anduril's fast-moving approach with its defense tech led to setbacks; Ukraine stopped using Anduril's Altius drones in 2024 due to problems  —  The company's products have had breakdowns and safety issues, documents show  —  The Navy was attempting to launch and recover …

Blake Brittain / Reuters: The USPTO issues new guidelines clarifying that generative AI is considered a tool that assists human inventors and cannot itself be considered an inventor  —  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued new guidelines on Wednesday outlining when inventions created with the help of artificial intelligence can be patented.

The UK government will levy a pay-per-mile tax on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles starting April 2028, UK's finance minister Rachel Reeves announced, a measure designed to offset some of the fuel duty revenue that will disappear as drivers shift away from petrol and diesel cars. Electric vehicles will be charged 3 pence per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5 pence per mile, payable annually alongside car tax. An average driver covering 8,000 miles a year would pay around $320, roughly half what a petrol or diesel driver pays in fuel duty. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the tax to generate $1.45 billion in its first year and $2.51 billion by 2030-31, offsetting about a quarter of the revenue losses projected from the EV transition by 2050. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned the new charge would "suppress demand" and make sales targets harder to achieve. New Zealand and Iceland have already introduced road pricing for EVs; demand dropped in the former but held steady in the latter. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google is testing a new Wi-Fi hotspot configuration in the latest Android Canary build that pairs the 6 GHz band's superior throughput with the 2.4 GHz band's broad device compatibility, eliminating the trade-off users previously faced when choosing between speed and legacy support. Android's default hotspot setting uses 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies, omitting 6 GHz because most devices lack support for the newer standard and because U.S. regulations previously prohibited smartphones from creating 6 GHz hotspots. Recent regulatory changes and a Pixel update unlocked standalone 6 GHz hotspots, but that option cuts off older devices entirely. The new "2.4 and 6 GHz" dual-band mode, spotted in Android Canary, is expected to arrive in an upcoming Android 16 QPR3 beta. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Politico: EU lawmakers agree on new rules that hold platforms like Meta and TikTok liable for financial scams that have been reported, requiring them to compensate banks  —  The new rules set a dangerous precedent, big tech companies say.  —  BRUSSELS — Platforms including Meta and TikTok …

CoinDesk: The UK proposes a “no gain, no loss” tax rule for crypto lending and liquidity pools in DeFi, deferring capital gains tax until a true economic disposal occurs  —  The proposal, with input from major industry players, aims to bring tax rules in line with how DeFi works, reducing outcomes that don't reflect reality.

A bipartisan right-to-repair provision that would let the U.S. military fix its own equipment faces a serious threat from defense industry lobbyists who want to replace it with a pay-per-use model for accessing repair information. A source familiar with negotiations told The Verge that there are significant concerns that the language in the National Defense Authorization Act will be swapped out for a "data-as-a-service" alternative that would require the Department of Defense to pay contractors for access to technical repair data. The provision, introduced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT) in their Warrior Right to Repair Act, passed the Senate in October and has support from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army and the Navy. The National Defense Industrial Association published a white paper backing the data-as-a-service model, arguing it would protect contractors' intellectual property. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Adam Smith (D-WA), who lead the House Armed Services Committee, outlined similar language in their SPEED Act. Rogers received more than $535,000 from the defense industry in 2024; Smith received over $310,550. The final NDAA is expected early next week. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ariel Wittenberg / Politico: Analysis: since 2023, data center power demands have delayed 15 coal plants' retirements; the Trump administration has ordered two power plants to remain open  —  President Donald Trump has amplified those effects by lowering hurdles for fossil fuel development, obstructing renewable energy projects …

An anonymous reader shares a report: NASA has slashed the number of astronaut missions on Boeing's Starliner contract and said the spacecraft's next mission to the International Space Station will fly without a crew, reducing the scope of a program hobbled by engineering woes and outpaced by SpaceX. The most recent mishap occurred during Starliner's first crewed test flight in 2024, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Several thrusters on Starliner's propulsion system shut down during its approach to the ISS. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security: A profile of “Rey”, the admin of cybercriminal group Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters, a 15-year-old from Amman, Jordan who cooperated with European police since June  —  A prolific cybercriminal group that calls itself “Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters” has dominated headlines this year …

Researchers at MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have built a simulation that models all 151 million American workers and their skills, then maps those skills against the capabilities of over 13,000 AI tools currently in production to see where the two overlap. The answer, according to their analysis: 11.7% of the US labor market's total wage value, or about $1.2 trillion, sits in tasks that AI systems can technically perform [PDF]. The researchers call this the Iceberg Index, and the name is deliberate. The visible AI disruption happening in tech jobs right now accounts for only 2.2% of labor market wage value. The remaining exposure lurks in cognitive and administrative work across finance, healthcare administration, and professional services, and unlike tech-sector disruption, it's spread across all fifty states rather than concentrated on the coasts. Delaware and South Dakota show higher Iceberg Index values than California because their economies lean heavily on administrative and financial work. Ohio and Tennessee register modest tech-sector exposure but substantial hidden risk in the white-collar functions that support their manufacturing bases. To validate the framework, the researchers compared their predictions against Anthropic's Economic Index tracking real-world AI usage from millions of Claude users. The two measures agreed on state categorizations 69% of the time, with particularly strong alignment at the extremes. The Iceberg Index doesn't predict job losses or adoption timelines. It measures technical capability, the overlap between what AI can do and what occupations require. Traditional economic indicators like GDP and unemployment explain less than five percent of the variation in this skill-based exposure, which is partly why the researchers argue workforce planners need new metrics. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Call-handling agents powered by AI are to be trialled by Staffordshire Police in a bid to cut waiting times for the non-emergency 101 service. The force is set to become the third in the country to take part in the scheme testing the use of artificial "agents" to deal with calls. Under the system, the AI agent would deal with simple queries like requests for information without the need for human involvement, freeing up call handlers and reducing answering times. Acting Chief Constable Becky Riggs confirmed the force would be looking to launch the AI pilot early in the new year. "It's a piece of technology called Agentforce. It will help with our response to the public, which historically we know we haven't done well." The senior officer said that sometimes people are not calling to report a crime, but want more information, which the technology could help with. However, if the system detects keywords suggesting vulnerability or risk or emergency, then it will be able to divert the call to a human being. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sanjai P R / Bloomberg: Reliance, Brookfield, and Digital Realty's joint venture Digital Connexion plans to invest $11B by 2030 to build a 1 GW data center in India's Visakhapatnam  —  Digital Connexion, a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd., Brookfield Asset Management Ltd …

Politico: EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera accuses the US of using “blackmail” to strong-arm the EU into watering down its tech rulebook during trade negotiations  —  Renewed U.S. pressure for the EU to recalibrate its digital rules is unacceptable, says Teresa Ribera.

Bryce Elder / Financial Times: Jefferies: Tether, which said it held 116 tons of gold in September, is “the largest holder of gold outside central banks”, buying 26 tons in Q3 and 24 in Q2  —  Remember about a month ago, when gold hit an all-time high, lots of commentators got on their hobby horses to huff about currency debasement?

Bloomberg: Taiwanese prosecutors search Intel VP Lo Wen-jen's homes days after TSMC alleged he leaked sensitive info, suggesting the government is deepening its probe  —  Prosecutors have searched the homes of a former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. executive accused of potentially leaking trade secrets …

OpenAI: OpenAI says a Mixpanel security incident on November 9 let a hacker access API account names and more, but not ChatGPT data, and it terminated its Mixpanel use  —  Transparency is important to us, so we want to inform you about a recent security incident at Mixpanel, a data analytics provider OpenAI used …

Bloomberg: Alibaba starts selling Quark S1, its first smart glasses powered by its Qwen AI models, for ~$537 in China, and plans to release international versions in 2026  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. began sales of its first smart glasses powered by its Qwen AI models, marking a rare foray into consumer hardware.

Apple is challenging a new Indian antitrust law that would let regulators calculate penalties based on global revenue -- a change that could expose the company to a fine of roughly $38 billion in its dispute with Tinder owner Match. The 2022 antitrust case centers on accusations that Apple abused its power by forcing developers to use its in-app purchase system. MacRumors reports: Last year, India passed a law that allows the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to use global turnover when calculating penalties imposed on companies for abusing market dominance. Apple can be fined up to 10 percent, which would result in a penalty of around $38 billion. Apple said that using global turnover would result in a fine that's "manifestly arbitrary, unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, and unjust." Apple is asking India's Delhi High Court to declare the law illegal, suggesting that penalties should be based on the Indian revenue of the specific unit that violates antitrust law. [...] Apple said in today's filing that the CCI used the new penalty law on November 10 in an unrelated case, fining a company for a violation that happened 10 years ago. Apple said it had "no choice but to bring this constitutional challenge now" to avoid having retrospective penalties applied against it, too. Match has argued that a high fine based on global turnover would discourage companies from repeating antitrust violations. Apple's plea will be heard on December 3. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak: Six years after EU law enforcement raids shut down German cyberlocker Share-Online, a German court sentences its operator to a two-year suspended prison term  —  In October 2019, an international police operation brought an abrupt end to Share-Online.biz, the largest file-hosting platform in Germany at the time.

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: An MIT study finds that AI can replace 11.7% of the US labor market, or ~$1.2T in wages, based on the “Iceberg Index”, which measures job automation potential  —  Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday released a study that found that artificial intelligence …