One of America’s Most Successful Experiments Is Coming to a Shuddering Halt

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 16:09
Amid an astonishing wave of anti-Indian animus, Indian Americans are questioning their place in the country.

Trump, Pressing Ahead on Ukraine-Russia Talks, Confronts Difficult Realities

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 15:46
The U.S.-led negotiations have made some progress, but still face fundamental challenges, including over security guarantees to counter future Russian aggression.

After a Decade of Dead Ends, $70 Million Rides on Locating Flight MH370

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 15:40
More than a decade after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished over the Indian Ocean en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the marine robotics company that located Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance is preparing to resume its hunt for the missing Boeing 777. Ocean Infinity, a UK and US-based seabed survey firm, began searching a 15,000 sq km priority area in the Indian Ocean in February but called off the expedition in April after 22 days due to poor weather conditions. The company plans to resume operations on December 30 for 55 days under a $70 million "no find, no fee" contract from the Malaysian government. The company has already covered nearly 10,000 sq km and intends to search another 25,000 sq km. Richard Godfrey, an independent aviation investigator, estimates Ocean Infinity has spent "tens of millions of dollars" on ships and equipment. "I don't think they're in this for the monetary reward of $70m, because this search is very, very expensive," Godfrey says. "I think they're in this for the achievement and their ability to market themselves as the greatest underwater-search firm in the world because they found MH370." The search relies on Hugin 6000 autonomous underwater vehicles capable of mapping the ocean floor at depths up to 6,000 metres using sonar, laser, and acoustic technology. Each AUV can operate independently for 100 hours before surfacing. The machines carry magnetometers that can detect metal buried under several metres of sediment. The story adds: One of the biggest challenges Ocean Infinity faces is the risk of being very close to the MH370 wreckage and missing it because of difficult terrain or gaps in the survey data.

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U.S. Pledges $2 Billion for U.N. Aid but Trump Administration Tells Agencies to ‘Adapt, Shrink, or Die’

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 15:17
The announcement will likely keep the United States as the biggest international aid donor next year, even as the Trump administration slashes funding for foreign assistance programs.

How Windows 10 Earned Its Good Reputation While Planting the Seeds of Windows 11's Problems

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 15:02
Windows 10's formal end-of-support arrived in October, and while the operating system is generally remembered as one of the "good" versions of Windows -- the most widely used since XP -- many of the annoyances people complain about in Windows 11 actually started during the Windows 10 era, ArsTechnica writes. Windows 10 earned its positive reputation primarily by not being Windows 8. It restored a version of the traditional Start menu, rolled out as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8 users, and ran on virtually all the same hardware as those older versions. Microsoft introduced the Windows Subsystem for Linux during this period and eventually rebuilt Edge on Chromium. The company seemed more willing to meet users where they were rather than forcing them to change their behavior. But Windows 10 also began collecting more information about how users interacted with the operating system, cluttered the lock screen with advertisements and news articles, and added third-party app icons to the Start menu without user consent. The mandatory Microsoft Account sign-in requirement -- one of Windows 11's most frequently complained-about features -- was a Windows 10 innovation, easier to circumvent at the time but clearly a step down the road Windows 11 is currently traveling. To be sure, Windows 11 has made things worse by stacking new irritants on top of old ones. The Microsoft Account requirement expanded to both Home and Pro editions, the SCOOBE screen now regularly nags users to "finish setting up" years-old installations and Microsoft's Copilot push changed the default PC keyboard layout for the first time in 30 years.

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When the Best New Year’s Plans Are No New Year’s Plans

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 14:47
Many opt out of the revelry, either as their own time-honored tradition or because of a different outlook this year.

Americans Are Watching Fewer New TV Shows and More Free TV

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 14:26
Americans are settling into streaming habits that should worry Hollywood executives, as new Nielsen data analyzed by Bloomberg reveals that not a single new original series cracked the top 10 most-watched streaming shows in 2025 -- the first time this has happened since Nielsen began publishing streaming data in 2020. The shift extends beyond original programming as free, ad-supported streaming services are growing faster than their paid counterparts. YouTube has become the most-watched streaming service on American televisions, now larger than Netflix and Amazon combined. The Roku Channel and Tubi have nearly doubled in size over the past two years, while Peacock and Warner Bros.' streaming services have stagnated at roughly half their free competitors' viewership share. Netflix still dominates when it comes to hits, accounting for about two-thirds of original programs appearing in Nielsen's weekly top 10 lists. But that dominance is eroding -- the company's share of streaming viewership has fallen below 20%. Meanwhile, Disney's streaming services haven't increased their share of TV viewing in three years, and Amazon is closing in. The most-watched original series of 2025 was Squid Game's final season, followed by returning shows Wednesday and Love Island.

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As Youth Sports Professionalize, Kids Are Burning Out Fast

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 14:18
A growing body of research shows how pressure from overbearing coaches and parents is stunting children’s emotional well-being and leading to injuries.

GOG and CD Projekt Founder Acquires 100% Ownership of GOG

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 13:45
Michal Kicinski, who co-founded both CD Projekt and the DRM-free digital games store GOG back in 2008, has acquired 100% ownership of GOG from CD Projekt, bringing the platform full circle to one of its original creators. GOG was already operating as part of CD Projekt through its Sp.z.o.o. subsidiary, but Kicinski now takes complete control of the company. The platform will continue operating independently and maintain its commitment to DRM-free gaming. "The mission stays the same: Make Games Live Forever," GOG said in its announcement. CD Projekt's joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said the parent company's focus on its development roadmap and franchise expansion made this the right time for the move. GOG has signed a distribution agreement ensuring all upcoming CD Projekt Red titles will release on the platform. Kicinski, describing himself as a "mature gamer" who plays classics, said he's personally involved in developing several retro-spirited games slated for GOG in 2026.

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Melanie Watson Bernhardt, ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ Actress, Dies at 57

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 13:32
Her four episodes on the sitcom marked a rarity: a disabled actress onscreen.

VC Sees AI-generated Video Gutting the Creator Economy

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 13:06
AI-generated video tools like OpenAI's Sora will make individual content creators "far, far, far less valuable" as social media platforms shift toward algorithmically generated content tailored to each viewer, according to Michael Mignano, a partner at venture capital firm Lightspeed and who cofounded the podcasting platform Anchor before Spotify acquired it. Speaking on a podcast, Mignano described a future where content is generated instantaneously and artificially to suit the viewer. The TikTok algorithm is powerful, he said, but it still requires human beings to make content -- and there's a cost to that. AI could drive those costs down significantly. Mignano called this shift the "death of the creator" in a post, acknowledging it was "devastating" but arguing it marked a "whole new chapter for the internet." In an email to Business Insider, Mignano wrote that quality will win out. "Platforms will no longer reward humans posting the same old, tried and true formats and memes," he wrote. "True uniqueness of image, likeness, and creativity will be the only viable path for human-created content."

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'Why Academics Should Do More Consulting'

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 12:22
A group of researchers is calling on universities to treat consulting work as a strategic priority, arguing that bureaucratic obstacles and inconsistent policies have left a massive revenue stream largely untapped even as higher education institutions face mounting financial pressures. (Consulting work refers to academics offering their advice and expertise to outside organizations -- industry, government, civil society -- for a fee. It's one of the most direct and scalable ways academics can shape the world beyond campus, and the projects are typically shorter in duration and easier to set up than alternatives like spin-out companies.) Writing in Nature, the authors found that fewer than 10% of academic staff at nine UK universities engaged in consulting work, and the number of academic consulting contracts across the country fell 38% over the past decade -- from around 99,000 in 2014-15 to fewer than 62,000 in 2023-24. Academic consulting in the UK is currently worth roughly $675-810 million annually, a figure that represents just 0.6% of the country's $124 billion management consulting market. The authors examined policies at 30 universities and surveyed 76 fellows from a UK Research and Innovation programme. Two-thirds of the surveyed institutions had publicly available consulting policies, and two outright prohibit private consulting. Permitted consulting time ranged from unlimited to 30 days or fewer per year, institutional charges varied from 10-40% of fees, and contract approval timelines stretched from 24 hours to several months. Private consultancy firms are moving into this space, capturing opportunities that universities neglect. Small-scale projects under $6,750 are commonly sidelined by university contract offices because they represent too small an income for strained institutional resources. The authors propose standardized policies across institutions, shared consulting income with departments, and faster approval processes -- reforms similar to those already implemented for university spin-out companies.

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Four Takeaways From the New York Times Profile of Marjorie Taylor Greene

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 10:48
The congresswoman discussed her break with President Trump and her journey from MAGA zealot to political isolation.

10 Fitness Tips to Help You Get Moving in 2026

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 08:06
Turn your walk into a better workout, build strength without weights and more exercise advice for the year ahead.

Inside Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Break With Trump and MAGA

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 05:02
How the Georgia congresswoman went from the president’s loudest cheerleader to his loudest Republican critic.

Why We Keep Falling for Narcissistic Leaders

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 01:00
We should know better.

AI Chatbots May Be Linked to Psychosis, Say Doctors

SlashDot - lun, 12/29/2025 - 00:55
One psychiatrist has already treated 12 patients hospitalized with AI-induced psychosis — and three more in an outpatient clinic, according to the Wall Street Journal. And while AI technology might not introduce the delusion, "the person tells the computer it's their reality and the computer accepts it as truth and reflects it back," says Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at the University of California, calling the AI chatbots "complicit in cycling that delusion." The Journal says top psychiatrists now "increasingly agree that using artificial-intelligence chatbots might be linked to cases of psychosis," and in the past nine months "have seen or reviewed the files of dozens of patients who exhibited symptoms following prolonged, delusion-filled conversations with the AI tools..." Since the spring, dozens of potential cases have emerged of people suffering from delusional psychosis after engaging in lengthy AI conversations with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other chatbots. Several people have died by suicide and there has been at least one murder. These incidents have led to a series of wrongful death lawsuits. As The Wall Street Journal has covered these tragedies, doctors and academics have been working on documenting and understanding the phenomenon that led to them... While most people who use chatbots don't develop mental-health problems, such widespread use of these AI companions is enough to have doctors concerned.... It's hard to quantify how many chatbot users experience such psychosis. OpenAI said that, in a given week, the slice of users who indicate possible signs of mental-health emergencies related to psychosis or mania is a minuscule 0.07%. Yet with more than 800 million active weekly users, that amounts to 560,000 people... Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, said in a recent podcast he can see ways that seeking companionship from an AI chatbot could go wrong, but that the company plans to give adults leeway to decide for themselves. "Society will over time figure out how to think about where people should set that dial," he said. An OpenAI spokeswoman told the Journal that the compan ycontinues improving ChatGPT's training "to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations and guide people toward real-world support." They added that OpenAI is also continuing to "strengthen" ChatGPT's responses "in sensitive moments, working closely with mental-health clinicians...."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The World Wants More Ube. Philippine Farmers Are Struggling to Keep Up.

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 00:54
Soaring demand and extreme weather worsened by climate change have wiped out harvests of the popular purple yam.

China Will Hold Live-Fire Military Exercises Around Taiwan

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 00:28
The exercises end months of relative calm across the Taiwan Strait and come after the Trump administration announced arms sales to the island.

Winter Storm Batters Minnesota, Bringing ‘Potentially Life-Threatening Travel Conditions’

NY Times - lun, 12/29/2025 - 00:10
Forecasters warned that whiteouts had reduced visibility in Minnesota. More heavy snow was expected in the region through Monday.

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