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First British Baby Born Using Transplanted Womb From Dead Donor

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 20:30
A 10-week-old boy named Hugo has become the first baby born in the UK from a womb transplanted from a deceased donor, after his mother Grace Bell -- who was born without a viable womb due to a condition called MRKH syndrome, which affects one in every 5,000 women -- underwent a 10-hour transplant operation at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford in June 2024. Hugo was born just before Christmas 2025, weighing nearly 7lbs, at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in west London, following IVF treatment and embryo transfer at The Lister Fertility Clinic. Bell's transplant is one of three completed so far as part of a UK clinical research trial that plans to carry out 10 such procedures from deceased donors, and Hugo is the first baby born from any of them. Earlier in 2025, a separate effort produced baby Amy, the first UK birth from a living womb donation -- her mother had received her older sister's womb in January 2023. Globally, more than 100 womb transplants have been performed, resulting in over 70 healthy births.

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Meta AI Security Researcher Said an OpenClaw Agent Ran Amok on Her Inbox

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 17:30
Meta AI security researcher Summer Yue posted a now-viral account on X describing how an OpenClaw agent she had tasked with sorting through her overstuffed email inbox went rogue, deleting messages in what she called a "speed run" while ignoring her repeated commands from her phone to stop. "I had to RUN to my Mac mini like I was defusing a bomb," Yue wrote, sharing screenshots of the ignored stop prompts as proof. Yue said she had previously tested the agent on a smaller "toy" inbox where it performed well enough to earn her trust, so she let it loose on the real thing. She believes the larger volume of data triggered compaction -- a process where the context window grows too large and the agent begins summarizing and compressing its running instructions, potentially dropping ones the user considers critical. The agent may have reverted to its earlier toy-inbox behavior and skipped her last prompt telling it not to act. OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent designed to run as a personal assistant on local hardware.

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New Datacentres Risk Doubling Great Britain's Electricity Use, Regulator Says

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 16:00
The amount of power being sought by new datacentre projects in Great Britain would exceed the national current peak electricity consumption, according to an industry watchdog. From a report: Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity -- 5GW more than the country's current peak demand. The figure was revealed in an Ofgem consultation on demand for new connections to the power grid. It pointed to a "surge in demand" for connection applications between November 2024 and June last year, with a significant number coming from datacentres. This has exceeded even the most ambitious forecasts. Meanwhile, new renewable energy projects are not being connected to the grid at the pace they are being built to help meet the government's clean energy targets by the end of the decade. Ofgem said the work required to connect surging numbers of datacentres could mean delays for other projects that are "critical for decarbonisation and economic growth." Datacentres are the central nervous system of AI tools such as chatbots and image generators, playing a vital role in training and operating products such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

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CrowdStrike Says Attackers Are Moving Through Networks in Under 30 Minutes

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 15:00
An anonymous reader shares a report: Cyberattacks reached victims faster and came from a wider range of threat groups than ever last year, CrowdStrike said in its annual global threat report released Tuesday, adding that cybercriminals and nation-states increasingly relied on predictable tactics to evade detection by exploiting trusted systems. The average breakout time -- how long it took financially-motivated attackers to move from initial intrusion to other network systems -- dropped to 29 minutes in 2025, a 65% increase in speed from the year prior. "The fastest breakout time a year ago was 51 seconds. This year it's 27 seconds," Adam Meyers, head of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, told CyberScoop. Defenders are falling behind because attackers are refining their techniques, using social engineering to access high-privilege systems faster and move through victims' cloud infrastructure undetected.

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Hilton Honors American Express Cards: New Limited-Time Offers

MyMoneyBlog.com - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 14:14

Updated with new limited-time offers. Hilton Hotels and American Express have co-branded credit cards with special perks for Hilton customers. Each person can typically only get one welcome offer, per card in your entire lifetime, so it’s best to apply during a temporary bump-up and/or limited-time offer. Hat tip to DoC and DDG, which has found some personal links without the once-per-lifetime language (“NLL” or “no-lifetime-language”). The business links below still include the NLL. Here’s what the “lifetime-language” looks like, and there should be a pop-up indicating that you are indeed not eligible for the bonus based on their records.

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.

Hilton Honors American Express Card (No Annual Fee)

  • Limited Time Offer: Earn 70,000 Bonus Points and one Free Night Reward after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 4/15/26.
  • 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on purchases at US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations.
  • 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
  • Hilton Honors(TM) Silver Status comes with this card. Spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on this card within a calendar year and upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status through the end of the next calendar year.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • No annual fee.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card ($150 Annual Fee)

  • Limited Time Offer: Earn 130,000 Bonus Points and one Free Night Reward after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 4/15/26.
  • 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on purchases at US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations.
  • 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar on U.S Online Retail Purchases.
  • 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
  • Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status comes with this card. Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on this card within a calendar year and upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
  • Up to $200 in Hilton Credits annually. Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That’s up to $200 in statement credits annually.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Earn an additional Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
  • $150 annual fee.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card ($550 Annual Fee)

  • Limited Time Offer: Earn 175,000 Bonus Points after you spend $6,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 4/15/26.
  • 14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • 7X Bonus Points for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants.
  • 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
  • Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status comes with this card.
  • $400 Hilton Resort Credit. Get up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts on your Hilton Honors Aspire Card. That’s up to $400 back annually.
  • $200 Flight Credit. Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com using your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
  • $209 CLEAR+ Credit. CLEAR+ helps get you to your gate faster by using your face to verify you are you at 55+ airports nationwide. Receive up to $209 per calendar year in statement credits, when you pay for a CLEAR+ Membership (subject to auto-renewal) with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Multiple Free Night Reward Opportunities. Enjoy an Annual Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors in your first year of Card Membership and every year upon Card renewal. Earn another Free Night Reward from Hilton after you spend $30,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Plus, you can earn an additional Free Night Reward from Hilton after you spend a total of $60,000 in purchases on the Card within the same calendar year.
  • $550 annual fee.

Hilton Honors American Express Business Card ($195 Annual Fee)

  • Limited Time Offer: Earn 175,000 Bonus Points and one Free Night Reward after you spend $8,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 4/15/26.
  • 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on other purchases made using the Hilton Honors Business Card on the first $100,000 in purchases each calendar year, 3X Points thereafter.
  • Up to $240 in Hilton credits annually (Up to $60 per quarter). Get up to $60 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made with this card directly with a Hilton portfolio property.
  • Complimentary Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status (free breakfast, room upgrades based on availability, 5th standard reward night free).
  • Upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status through the end of the calendar year if the total eligible purchases that you spend on your Card Account during a calendar year reach $40,000 or more.
  • $195 annual fee.

What are Hilton Honor points worth? The best value is from booking free hotel nights or using their “Points & Money” option where you pay with a combination of Hilton points and cash. Hilton has some really nice properties, but the value varies from hotel to hotel. I just ran a search and for the same 60,000 Hilton points, I could book rooms that cost $320 or $532 cash. I’ve seen some valuations around 0.6 cents per point, which I think is fair on average, but I would be more conservative at 0.5 cents a point. That would make 150,000 points = $750 value and 100,000 points = $500 value towards Hilton hotel stays.

The good part of Hilton points is that they have so many different hotel brands, from business-class DoubleTree to luxury Waldorf Astoria. Hilton also lets you transfer and pool points with other with other family or household members. As long as you are able to keep them active (once every 12 months), I do like to keep some around. These credit cards are handy for creating activity.

Free Night Award details. When it is offered (not all the time), the Free Night Award is valid for a one-night standard room at eligible Hilton properties, and also covers resort fees and taxes. There are many great and valuable options to redeem, but importantly read about the property exclusions here. Here are the full terms. To redeem the Free Night Reward, you must call 1-800-446-6677 (1-800-HHONORS). It’s quite easy and I’ve found the agents to be very helpful if you want to combine multiple certificates, combine a paid stay and a Free Night Award, etc. Free Night Rewards will expire 12 months from date of issuance.

I’ve used this Free Night Award at the Grand Wailea in Maui, and that standard room would have cost 110,000 Hilton Points otherwise. Other fancy possibilities include Conrad New York, Conrad London, Waldorf Astoria Park City, and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Bottom line. Hilton American Express cards offer regular Hilton customers a good opportunity to earn additional points towards free Hilton hotel stays as well as additional perks like status upgrades. The best time to apply for a Hilton co-branded American Express card is during a limited-time increase to their welcome offers. This is because American Express has changed their standard policy to only allow each person to get a welcome offer once per card.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers and Top 10 Best Business Card Offers.

Categories: Finance

Build dynamic agentic workflows in OpalBuild dynamic agentic workflows in OpalPrincipal Software Engineer

GoogleBlog - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 14:00
We’re launching a new agent step in Opal, available for all users today.We’re launching a new agent step in Opal, available for all users today.
Categories: Technology

Hegseth Gives Anthropic Until Friday To Back Down on AI Safeguards

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 14:00
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei until Friday evening to give the military unfettered access to its AI model or face harsh penalties, Axios has learned. Hegseth told Amodei in a tense meeting on Tuesday that the Pentagon will either cut ties and declare Anthropic a "supply chain risk," or invoke the Defense Production Act to force the company to tailor its model to the military's needs. The Pentagon wants to punish Anthropic as the feud over AI safeguards grows increasingly nasty, but officials are also worried about the consequences of losing access to its industry-leading model, Claude. "The only reason we're still talking to these people is we need them and we need them now. The problem for these guys is they are that good," a Defense official told Axios ahead of the meeting. Anthropic has said it is willing to adapt its usage policies for the Pentagon, but not to allow its model to be used for the mass surveillance of Americans or the development of weapons that fire without human involvement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The US Spent $30 Billion on Classroom Laptops and Got the First Generation Less Capable Than Its Parents

Slashdot.org - Tue, 02/24/2026 - 13:01
More than two decades after Maine became the first state to hand laptops to middle schoolers -- distributing 17,000 Apple machines across 243 schools in 2002 -- neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath told a U.S. Senate committee earlier this year that Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than the one before it. The U.S. spent more than $30 billion in 2024 alone putting laptops and tablets in classrooms, and Horvath cited PISA data from 15-year-olds worldwide showing a stark correlation between time on school computers and worse scores. A 2014 study of 3,000 university students found they were off-task on their machines nearly two-thirds of the time. Fortune reported back in 2017 that Maine's own test scores hadn't budged in the 15 years since the program launched, and then-governor Paul LePage called it a "massive failure." Horvath framed the generation's eroding capabilities not as a personal failure but a policy one, calling them victims of a failed pedagogical experiment.

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