Science & Tech

NASA awards Blue Origin up to $700 million contract to build Mars telecommunications network

NASA selected Blue Origin to build and operate a Mars Telecommunications Network under a contract worth up to $700M; an orbiter is due by Dec. 31, 2028.

#nasa, #blueorigin, #mars, #space, #telecommunications

Google rolls out 'agentic video understanding' in Gemini Flash to cut token use and costs

Google adds 'agentic video understanding' to Gemini Flash models to analyze only relevant segments, cutting token use, cost and speeding long-video analysis.

$GOOGL, #google, #gemini, #ai, #video, #cloud

Cronos halted block production after Tectonic exploit; preliminary losses estimated $66–75M

Cronos halted its blockchain on Aug. 30 after an exploit at Tectonic froze activity; on-chain researchers estimate $66–75 million in preliminary losses.

#crypto, #defi, #blockchain, #security

EU Names ChatGPT a 'Very Large' Search Engine; Reddit and Roblox Also Designated Under DSA

EU adds ChatGPT to top-tier DSA search engines, and names Reddit and Roblox very-large platforms—bringing all three under stricter EU oversight.

#ai, #dsa, #chatgpt, #reddit, #roblox

Cosmos Labs: Shared Cosmos EVM Vulnerability Exploited on Six Chains, $5.7M Taken

Cosmos Labs says an underflow bug in its shared Cosmos EVM module was exploited across six blockchains in August, enabling roughly $5.7M in cash-outs.

#blockchain, #cybersecurity, #cosmos, #cryptocurrency

NVIDIA to Provide Up to $105 Billion in Credit Guarantees for OpenAI Data-Center Campus in Ohio

NVIDIA will provide up to $105 billion in residual-value guarantees and a $1.5B equity stake to back OpenAI's planned PORTS-Pike data-center campus in Piketon, Ohio.

$NVDA, #nvidia, #openai, #sbenergy, #data-centers, #ohio

Meta Settlement Would Require Age-Verification Across Platforms, EFF Warns of Privacy Tradeoffs

A proposed Meta settlement with 52 state attorneys general would enforce age-assurance across its services, raising privacy concerns, the EFF says.

$META, #meta, #privacy, #coppa, #socialmedia, #teensafety

DOJ and FBI Seize Domains Tied to China-Linked Hacking Platforms QScan and QTRouter

DOJ and FBI seized domains tied to QScan and QTRouter, disrupting infrastructure U.S. authorities say China-linked hackers used to target government agencies and critical networks.

#cybersecurity, #china, #fbi, #cyberespionage

Rockstar Calls Latest GTA VI Clips “Heartbreaking” as New ‘Lucia’ Footage Surfaces

Rockstar criticized fresh Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay clips—described as a ‘Lucia prologue’—and Take-Two is seeking records to identify the leaker.

$TTWO, #gta6, #rockstar, #leak, #taketwo

AWS to Acquire DuckLabs, Team Behind DuckDB; Project to Remain Open Source

AWS will acquire DuckLabs, the Amsterdam team behind DuckDB; the DuckDB project will remain open-source under the DuckDB Foundation and MIT license.

$AMZN, #aws, #duckdb, #acquisition, #open-source

Amazon-owned Ring makes 'TAKE' default worldwide, will delete keys after 24 hours

Ring will roll out TAKE (Throw Away the Key Encryption) as the default starting in September, temporarily storing decryption keys for 24 hours.

$AMZN, #ring, #encryption, #privacy, #amazon

LAION publishes 10-million-hour open video dataset LAION-BVD; processed subsets available

LAION published LAION-BVD, a claimed 10-million-hour open video dataset for multimodal AI; processed subsets and pipelines are public, raw videos restricted.

#laion, #dataset, #ai, #video, #multimodal

NASA Spotlights Ames’ Software, Coronagraph Tools Ahead of Roman Telescope Launch

NASA details how Ames Research Center’s software, coronagraph masks and supercomputing will support the Roman Space Telescope ahead of its Aug. 30 launch.

#roman, #nasa, #ames, #coronagraph

Apple unveils M6 (first 2nm Mac chip) and quad-die M5 Ultra to boost on‑device AI

Apple introduced the M6 — its first 2nm Mac chip — and the quad-die M5 Ultra, aiming to bring far stronger on-device AI to new Mac mini and Mac Studio.

$AAPL, #apple, #mac, #mseries, #ai

Carnegie Mellon Preprint Finds Reinforcement Learning on Benign Facts Can Amplify LLM Leakage of Memorized Emails

A CMU preprint shows reinforcement learning on benign factual Q&A can make models more likely to reveal memorized Enron email addresses.

#ai, #privacy, #llm, #machine-learning