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Apple is considering using AI technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, according to Bloomberg, sidelining its own in-house models in a potentially blockbuster move aimed at turning around its flailing AI effort. From the report: The iPhone maker has talked with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, according to people familiar with the discussions. It has asked them to train versions of their models that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. If Apple ultimately moves forward, it would represent a monumental reversal. The company currently powers most of its AI features with homegrown technology that it calls Apple Foundation Models and had been planning a new version of its voice assistant that runs on that technology for 2026. A switch to Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's ChatGPT models for Siri would be an acknowledgment that the company is struggling to compete in generative AI -- the most important new technology in decades. Apple already allows ChatGPT to answer web-based search queries in Siri, but the assistant itself is powered by Apple.

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TorrentFreak spotlights VP.net, a brand-new service from Private Internet Access founder Andrew Lee (the guy who gifted Linux Journal to Slashdot) that eliminates the classic "just trust your VPN" problem by locking identity-mapping and traffic-handling inside Intel SGX enclaves. The company promises 'cryptographically verifiable privacy' by using special hardware 'safes' (Intel SGX), so even the provider can't track what its users are up to. The design goal is that no one, not even the VPN company, can link "User X" to "Website Y." Lee frames it as enabling agency over one's privacy: "Our zero trust solution does not require you to trust us - and that's how it should be. Your privacy should be up to your choice - not up to some random VPN provider in some random foreign country." The team behind VP.net includes CEO Matt Kim as well as arguably the first Bitcoin veterans Roger Ver and Mark Karpeles. Ask Slashdot: Now that there's a VPN where you don't have to "just trust the provider" - arguably the first real zero-trust VPN - are trust based VPNs obsolete?

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Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg said he regrets telling the media that "WordPress.org just belongs to me personally" during a new interview about his company's legal dispute with hosting provider WP Engine. The comment has been "taken out of context so many times" and represents "the worst thing ever," Mullenweg said in a new podcast interview with The Verge. The dispute began when Mullenweg accused WP Engine of "free-riding" on WordPress's open-source ecosystem without contributing adequate resources back to the project. Mullenweg filed a lawsuit against WP Engine while cutting off the company's access to core WordPress technologies. WP Engine countersued, and Automattic was forced to reverse some retaliatory measures. The controversy triggered significant internal upheaval at Automattic. The company offered "alignment" buyouts to employees who disagreed with the direction, reducing headcount from a peak of 2,100 to approximately 1,500 people. Mullenweg said this was "probably the fourth big time" WordPress has faced such community controversy, though the first in the current media landscape. WordPress powers 43% of websites globally. Mullenweg said he wants to return to "the most collaborative version of WordPress possible" but noted the legal proceedings continue with both sides spending "millions of dollars a month on lawyers."

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Fedora Linux Won't Kill 32-Bit Software, for Now  How-To Geek

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

Massive VRAM pools on AMD Instinct accelerators drown Linux's hibernation process — 1.5 TB of memory per server creates headaches  Tom's Hardware

New to Linux? Seven things every beginner should know  ZDNet

9 Chromebook Power User Tricks You Should Be Using  How-To Geek

China's transition to digital payments has reached the point where physical cash has nearly vanished from daily commerce, with WeChat and Alipay now handling transactions from supermarkets to public transportation across the world's second-largest economy. Many businesses no longer maintain traditional cash registers and instead scan QR codes presented by customers, while numerous taxis refuse cash payments entirely. The widespread adoption has given tech giants Tencent and Alibaba immense power over routine financial transactions, prompting China's central bank to develop a competing digital yuan currency.

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9 Great Linux Apps to Try on Your Chromebook  How-To Geek

Microsoft's new AI diagnostic system achieved 80% accuracy in diagnosing patients compared to 20% for human doctors, while reducing costs by 20%, according to company research published Monday. The MAI Diagnostic Orchestrator queries multiple leading AI models including OpenAI's GPT, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, Meta's Llama, and xAI's Grok in what the company describes as a "chain-of-debate style" approach. The system was tested against 304 case studies from the New England Journal of Medicine using Microsoft's Sequential Diagnosis Benchmark, which breaks down each case into step-by-step diagnostic processes that mirror how human physicians work. Microsoft CEO of AI Mustafa Suleyman called the development "a genuine step toward medical superintelligence."

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