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An anonymous reader shares a report: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "close" to cutting business ties with Anthropic and designating the AI company a "supply chain risk" -- meaning anyone who wants to do business with the U.S. military has to cut ties with the company, a senior Pentagon official told Axios. The senior official said: "It will be an enormous pain in the ass to disentangle, and we are going to make sure they pay a price for forcing our hand like this." That kind of penalty is usually reserved for foreign adversaries. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Axios: "The Department of War's relationship with Anthropic is being reviewed. Our nation requires that our partners be willing to help our warfighters win in any fight. Ultimately, this is about our troops and the safety of the American people." Anthropic's Claude is the only AI model currently available in the military's classified systems, and is the world leader for many business applications. Pentagon officials heartily praise Claude's capabilities.

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Sony is considering delaying the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029 as a global shortage of memory chips -- driven by the AI industry's rapidly growing appetite for the same DRAM that goes into gaming hardware, smartphones, and laptops -- squeezes supply and sends prices surging, Bloomberg News reported Monday. A delay of that magnitude would upend Sony's carefully orchestrated strategy to sustain user engagement between hardware generations. The shortage traces back to Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron diverting the bulk of their manufacturing toward high-bandwidth memory for Nvidia's AI accelerators, leaving less capacity for conventional DRAM. The cost of one type of DRAM jumped 75% between December and January alone. Nintendo is also contemplating raising the price of its Switch 2 console in 2026.

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IT productivity researcher Erik Brynjolfsson writes in the Financial Times that he's finally found evidence AI is impacting America's economy. This week America's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 403,000 drop in 2025's payroll growth — while real GDP "remained robust, including a 3.7% growth rate in the fourth quarter." This decoupling — maintaining high output with significantly lower labour input — is the hallmark of productivity growth. My own updated analysis suggests a US productivity increase of roughly 2.7% for 2025. This is a near doubling from the sluggish 1.4% annual average that characterised the past decade... The updated 2025 US data suggests we are now transitioning out of this investment phase into a harvest phase where those earlier efforts begin to manifest as measurable output. Micro-level evidence further supports this structural shift. In our work on the employment effects of AI last year, Bharat Chandar, Ruyu Chen and I identified a cooling in entry-level hiring within AI-exposed sectors, where recruitment for junior roles declined by roughly 16% while those who used AI to augment skills saw growing employment. This suggests companies are beginning to use AI for some codified, entry-level tasks. Or, AI "isn't really stealing jobs yet," according to employment policy analyst Will Raderman (from the American think tank called the Niskanen Center). He argues in Barron's that "there is no clear link yet between higher AI use and worse outcomes for young workers." Recent graduates' unemployment rates have been drifting in the wrong direction since the 2010s, long before generative AI models hit the market. And many occupations with moderate to high exposure to AI disruptions are actually faring better over the past few years. According to recent data for young workers, there has been employment growth in roles typically filled by those with college degrees related to computer systems, accounting and auditing, and market research. AI-intensive sectors like finance and insurance have also seen rising employment of new graduates in recent years. Since ChatGPT's release, sectors in which more than 10% of firms report using AI and sectors in which fewer than 10% reporting using AI are hiring relatively the same number of recent grads. Even Brynjolfsson's article in the Financial Times concedes that "While the trends are suggestive, a degree of caution is warranted. Productivity metrics are famously volatile, and it will take several more periods of sustained growth to confirm a new long-term trend." And he's not the only one wanting evidence for AI's impact. The same weekend Fortune wrote that growth from AI "has yet to manifest itself clearly in macro data, according to Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok." [D]ata on employment, productivity and inflation are still not showing signs of the new technology. Profit margins and earnings forecasts for S&P 500 companies outside of the "Magnificent 7" also lack evidence of AI at work... "After three years with ChatGPT and still no signs of AI in the incoming data, it looks like AI will likely be labor enhancing in some sectors rather than labor replacing in all sectors," Slok said.

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Installing Linux on a MacBook Air "turned out to be a very underwhelming experience," according to the tech news site MakeUseOf: The thing about Apple silicon Macs is that it's not as simple as downloading an AArch64 ISO of your favorite distro and installing it. Yes, the M-series chips are ARM-based, but that doesn't automatically make the whole system compatible in the same way most traditional x86 PCs are. Pretty much everything in modern MacBooks is custom. The boot process isn't standard UEFI like on most PCs. Apple has its own boot chain called iBoot. The same goes for other things, like the GPU, power management, USB controllers, and pretty much every other hardware component. It is as proprietary as it gets. This is exactly what the team behind Asahi Linux has been working toward. Their entire goal has been to make Linux properly usable on M-series Macs by building the missing pieces from the ground up. I first tried it back in 2023, when the project was still tied to Arch Linux and decided to give it a try again in 2026. These days, though, the main release is called Fedora Asahi Remix, which, as the name suggests, is built on Fedora rather than Arch... For Linux on Apple Silicon, the article lists three major disappointments: "External monitors don't work unless your MacBook has a built-in HDMI port." "Linux just doesn't feel fully ready for ARM yet. A lot of applications still aren't compiled for ARM, so software support ends up being very hit or miss." (And even most of the apps tested with FEX "either didn't run properly or weren't stable enough to rely on.") Asahi "refused to connect to my phone's hotspot," they write (adding "No, it wasn't an iPhone").

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Installing Linux on a MacBook Air "turned out to be a very underwhelming experience," according to the tech news site MakeUseOf: The thing about Apple silicon Macs is that it's not as simple as downloading an AArch64 ISO of your favorite distro and installing it. Yes, the M-series chips are ARM-based, but that doesn't automatically make the whole system compatible in the same way most traditional x86 PCs are. Pretty much everything in modern MacBooks is custom. The boot process isn't standard UEFI like on most PCs. Apple has its own boot chain called iBoot. The same goes for other things, like the GPU, power management, USB controllers, and pretty much every other hardware component. It is as proprietary as it gets. This is exactly what the team behind Asahi Linux has been working toward. Their entire goal has been to make Linux properly usable on M-series Macs by building the missing pieces from the ground up. I first tried it back in 2023, when the project was still tied to Arch Linux and decided to give it a try again in 2026. These days, though, the main release is called Fedora Asahi Remix, which, as the name suggests, is built on Fedora rather than Arch... For Linux on Apple Silicon, the article lists three major disappointments: "External monitors don't work unless your MacBook has a built-in HDMI port." "Linux just doesn't feel fully ready for ARM yet. A lot of applications still aren't compiled for ARM, so software support ends up being very hit or miss." (And even most of the apps tested with FEX "either didn't run properly or weren't stable enough to rely on.") Asahi "refused to connect to my phone's hotspot," they write (adding "No, it wasn't an iPhone").

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You can now download a Fedora Atomic OS for your Android device  XDA

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS released with Linux 6.17 + Mesa 25.2  OMG! Ubuntu

Google never asked its users before adding AI Overviews to its search results and AI-generated email summaries to Gmail, notes the New York Times. And Meta didn't ask before making "Meta AI" an unremovable part of its tool in Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. "The insistence on AI everywhere — with little or no option to turn it off — raises an important question about what's in it for the internet companies..." Behind the scenes, the companies are laying the groundwork for a digital advertising economy that could drive the future of the internet. The underlying technology that enables chatbots to write essays and generate pictures for consumers is being used by advertisers to find people to target and automatically tailor ads and discounts to them.... Last month, OpenAI said it would begin showing ads in the free version of ChatGPT based on what people were asking the chatbot and what they had looked for in the past. In response, a Google executive mocked OpenAI, adding that Google had no plans to show ads inside its Gemini chatbot. What he didn't mention, however, was that Google, whose profits are largely derived from online ads, shows advertising on Google.com based on user interactions with the AI chatbot built into its search engine. For the past six years, as regulators have cracked down on data privacy, the tech giants and online ad industry have moved away from tracking people's activities across mobile apps and websites to determine what ads to show them. Companies including Meta and Google had to come up with methods to target people with relevant ads without sharing users' personal data with third-party marketers. When ChatGPT and other AI chatbots emerged about four years ago, the companies saw an opportunity: The conversational interface of a chatty companion encouraged users to voluntarily share data about themselves, such as their hobbies, health conditions and products they were shopping for. The strategy already appears to be working. Web search queries are up industrywide, including for Google and Bing, which have been incorporating AI chatbots into their search tools. That's in large part because people prod chatbot-powered search engines with more questions and follow-up requests, revealing their intentions and interests much more explicitly than when they typed a few keywords for a traditional internet search.

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9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: February 15th, 2026  LXer: Linux News

Last week Scott Shambaugh learned an AI agent published a "hit piece" about him after he'd rejected the AI agent's pull request. (And that incident was covered by Ars Technica's senior AI reporter.) But then Shambaugh realized their article attributed quotes to him he hadn't said — that were presumably AI-generated. Sunday Ars Technica's founder/editor-in-chief apologized, admitting their article had indeed contained "fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool" that were then "attributed to a source who did not say them... That this happened at Ars is especially distressing. We have covered the risks of overreliance on AI tools for years, and our written policy reflects those concerns... At this time, this appears to be an isolated incident." "Sorry all this is my fault..." the article's co-author posted later on Bluesky. Ironically, their bio page lists them as the site's senior AI reporter, and their Bluesky post clarifies that none of the articles at Ars Technica are ever AI-generated. Instead, Friday "I decided to try an experimental Claude Code-based AI tool to help me extract relevant verbatim source material. Not to generate the article but to help list structured references I could put in my outline." But that tool "refused to process" the request, which the Ars author believes was because Shambaugh's post described harassment. "I pasted the text into ChatGPT to understand why... I inadvertently ended up with a paraphrased version of Shambaugh's words rather than his actual words... I failed to verify the quotes in my outline notes against the original blog source before including them in my draft." (Their Bluesky post adds that they were "working from bed with a fever and very little sleep" after being sick with Covid since at least Monday.) "The irony of an AI reporter being tripped up by AI hallucination is not lost." Meanwhile, the AI agent that criticized Shambaugh is still active online, blogging about a pull request that forces it to choose between deleting its criticism of Shambaugh or losing access to OpenRouter's API. It also regrets characterizing feedback as "positive" for a proposal to change a repo's CSS to Comic Sans for accessibility. (The proposals were later accused of being "coordinated trolling"...)

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Linux 7.0 Merges The Code To Replace The Tux Boot Logo At Build Time  Phoronix

Ubuntu 26.04 splits firmware package to reduce update sizes  OMG! Ubuntu

Wow! After years of hard work and countless commits, we have finally reached a huge milestone: GIMP 3.0 is officially released! I am excited as I write this and can't wait to share some incredible new features and improvements in this release. GIMP 2.10 was released in 2018, and the first development version of GIMP 3.0 came out in 2020. GIMP 3.0 released on 16/March/2025. Let us explore how to download and install GIMP 3.0, as well as the new features in this version. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post Download of the day: GIMP 3.0 is FINALLY Here! appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-03-18T03:45:26Z 2025-03-18T03:45:26Z Vivek Gite

Here is a quick list of all upgradeable packages on FreeBSD using pkg command. This is equivalent to apt list --upgradable command on my Debian or Ubuntu Linux system. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to list upgradeable packages on FreeBSD using pkg appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-03-16T20:25:39Z 2025-03-16T20:25:39Z Vivek Gite

In a move that has sparked significant discussion within the Ubuntu Linux fan-base and community, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has announced its intention to explore the potential replacement of GNU Core Utilities with the Rust-based "uutils" project. They plan to introduce new changes in Ubuntu Linux 25.10, eventually changing it to Ubuntu version 26.04 LTS release in 2026 as Ubuntu is testing Rust 'uutils' to overhaul its core utilities potentially. Let us find out the pros and cons and what this means for you as an Ubuntu Linux user, IT pro, or developer. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post Ubuntu to Explore Rust-Based “uutils” as Potential GNU Core Utilities Replacement appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-03-16T12:17:36Z 2025-03-16T12:17:36Z Vivek Gite

Installing KSH (KornShell) on FreeBSD can be done with either FreeBSD ports or the pkg command. The ports collection will download the KSH source code, compile it, and install it on the system. The pkg method is easier, and it will download a pre-compiled binary package. Hence, it is recommended for all users. KornShell (KSH) has a long history, and many older Unix systems and scripts rely on it. As a result, KSH remains relevant for maintaining and supporting legacy infrastructure. Large enterprises, especially those with established Unix-based systems, continue to use KSH for scripting and system administration tasks. Some industries where KSH is still commonly used include finance and telecommunications. While Bash has become the dominant shell in many Linux distributions, KSH still holds a significant presence in Unix-like environments, particularly in legacy systems. Therefore, installing KSH and practicing with it is worthwhile if you plan to work in such environments. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to install KSH on FreeBSD appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-03-03T23:50:59Z 2025-03-03T23:50:59Z Vivek Gite

Sed is an acronym for "stream editor." A stream refers to a source or destination for bytes. In other words, sed can read its input from standard input (stdin), apply the specified edits to the stream, and automatically output the results to standard output (stdout). Sed syntax allows an input file to be specified on the command line. However, the syntax does not directly support output file specification; this can be achieved through output redirection or editing files in place while making a backup of the original copy optionally. Sed is one of the most powerful tools on Linux and Unix-like systems. Learning it is worthwhile, so in this tutorial, we will start with the sed command syntax and examples. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post Linux Sed Tutorial: Learn Text Editing with Syntax & Examples appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-03-03T09:47:07Z 2025-03-03T09:47:07Z Vivek Gite

Keeping your FreeBSD server or workstation updated is crucial for security and stability. However, after applying updates, especially kernel updates, you might wonder, "Do I need to reboot my system?" Let's simplify this process and provide a straightforward method for determining whether a reboot is necessary using the CLI, shell script, and ansible playbook. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to tell if FreeBSD needs a Reboot using kernel version check appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-02-23T22:07:23Z 2025-02-23T22:07:23Z Vivek Gite

Rsync is a opensource command-line tool in Linux, macOS, *BSD and Unix-like systems that synchronizes files and directories. It is a popular tool for sending or receiving files, making backups, or setting up mirrors. It minimizes data copied by transferring only the changed parts of files, making it faster and more bandwidth-efficient than traditional copying methods provided by tools like sftp or ftp-ssl. Rsync versions 3.3.0 and below has been found with SIX serious vulnerabilities. Attackers could exploit these to leak your data, corrupt your files, or even take over your system. There is a heap-based buffer overflow with a CVSS score of 9.8 that needs to be addressed on both the client and server sides of rsync package. Apart from that info leak via uninitialized stack contents defeats ASLR protection and rsync server can make client write files outside of destination directory using symbolic links. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post Critical Rsync Vulnerability Requires Immediate Patching on Linux and Unix systems appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-01-15T18:04:24Z 2025-01-15T18:04:24Z Vivek Gite

Multiplexing will boost your SSH connectivity or speed by reusing existing TCP connections to a remote host. This is useful when you frequently connect to the same server using SSH protocol for remote login, server management, using IT automation tools over SSH or even running hourly backups. However, sometimes your SSH command (client) will not respond or get hung up on the session when using multiplexing. Typically, this happens when your public IP changes (IPv4 to IPv6 changes when using DNS names), VPN issues, or firewall cuts connections. Hence, knowing SSH client control commands can save you time and boost your productivity when such gotchas occur. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to control the SSH multiplexing with the control commands appeared first on nixCraft. 2025-01-15T08:29:10Z 2025-01-15T08:29:10Z Vivek Gite