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Tech Firms Aren't Just Encouraging Their Workers To Use AI. They're Enforcing It.

Slashdot.org - 1 hour 30 min ago

Tech companies ranging from 300-person startups to giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce have moved beyond encouraging employees to use AI tools and are now actively tracking adoption and, in several cases, tying it to performance reviews. Google is factoring AI use into some software engineer reviews for the first time this year, and Meta's new performance review system will do the same -- it can track how many lines of code an engineer wrote with AI assistance. Amazon Web Services managers have dashboards showing individual engineer AI-tool usage and consider adoption when evaluating promotions. About 42% of tech-industry workers said their direct manager expects AI use in daily work as of last October, up from 32% eight months earlier, according to AI consulting firm Section. At software maker Autodesk, CEO Andrew Anagnost acknowledged that some employees had been using initially blocked coding tools like Cursor stealthily -- and warned that AI holdouts "probably won't survive long term."

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Americans Are Destroying Flock Surveillance Cameras

Slashdot.org - 3 hours 23 sec ago

An anonymous reader shares a report: Brian Merchant, writing for Blood in the Machine, reports that people across the United States are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras, amid rising public anger that the license plate readers aid U.S. immigration authorities and deportations. Flock is the Atlanta-based surveillance startup valued at $7.5 billion a year ago and a maker of license plate readers. It has faced criticism for allowing federal authorities access to its massive network of nationwide license plate readers and databases at a time when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasingly relying on data to raid communities as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Flock cameras allow authorities to track where people go and when by taking photos of their license plates from thousands of cameras located across the United States. Flock claims it doesn't share data with ICE directly, but reports show that local police have shared their own access to Flock cameras and its databases with federal authorities. While some communities are calling on their cities to end their contracts with Flock, others are taking matters into their own hands.

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Intrinsic is joining Google to accelerate the future of physical AI.Intrinsic is joining Google to accelerate the future of physical AI.

GoogleBlog - 3 hours 55 min ago

Founded as an Other Bet by Alphabet in 2021, Intrinsic is now joining Google.

Categories: Technology

Xbox Co-founder Says Microsoft is Quietly Sunsetting the Platform

Slashdot.org - 3 hours 59 min ago

Seamus Blackley, one of the original founders of Xbox who helped convince Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to back a console project more than 26 years ago, told GamesBeat in an interview that he believes Microsoft is quietly sunsetting the platform under the guise of an AI-driven leadership transition. Microsoft recently announced that Asha Sharma, whose career has focused on AI and software as a service, will replace Phil Spencer as Xbox CEO, and that COO and president Sarah Bond is leaving the company. Blackley said he expects Sharma's role to be that of "a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night," arguing that Satya Nadella's all-consuming bet on generative AI has turned every business unit -- Xbox included -- into a nail for the same hammer. He compared the appointment to putting someone who doesn't like movies in charge of a major motion picture studio, and advised Sharma to either develop a genuine passion for games or find a way to leave the job soon.

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Hacker Used Anthropic's Claude To Steal Sensitive Mexican Data

Slashdot.org - 5 hours 23 sec ago

A hacker exploited Anthropic's AI chatbot to carry out a series of attacks against Mexican government agencies, resulting in the theft of a huge trove of sensitive tax and voter information, according to cybersecurity researchers. From a report: The unknown Claude user wrote Spanish-language prompts for the chatbot to act as an elite hacker, finding vulnerabilities in government networks, writing computer scripts to exploit them and determining ways to automate data theft, Israeli cybersecurity startup Gambit Security said in research published Wednesday. The activity started in December and continued for roughly a month. In all, 150 gigabytes of Mexican government data was stolen, including documents related to 195 million taxpayer records as well as voter records, government employee credentials and civil registry files, according to the researchers.

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See the whole picture and find the look with Circle to SearchSee the whole picture and find the look with Circle to SearchDirector, Product Management, Search

GoogleBlog - 6 hours 23 sec ago

We’ve updated Circle to Search so you can now explore multiple items in a single image.We’ve updated Circle to Search so you can now explore multiple items in a single image.

Categories: Technology

Let Gemini handle your multi-step daily tasks on Android.Let Gemini handle your multi-step daily tasks on Android.

GoogleBlog - 6 hours 23 sec ago

Launching soon for Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S26 Series, you can offload multi-step tasks to Gemini.

Categories: Technology

A more intelligent Android on Samsung Galaxy S26A more intelligent Android on Samsung Galaxy S26VP of Product Management and User Experiences, Android Platform

GoogleBlog - 6 hours 23 sec ago

At Samsung Unpacked 2026, we showcased how Samsung Galaxy S26 devices are getting the latest in Android’s AI features.At Samsung Unpacked 2026, we showcased how Samsung Galaxy S26 devices are getting the latest in Android’s AI features.

Categories: Technology

DVD Sales Decline Slows Sharply as Gen Z Discovers the Appeal of Physical Media

Slashdot.org - 6 hours 23 sec ago

DVD and Blu-ray sales have been in freefall for years, but the decline is slowing considerably as Gen Z buyers turn to physical media and drive a measurable uptick at video rental stores and retailers across the U.S. Overall disc sales fell just 9% last year after dropping more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, and U.S. consumers spent 12% more on 4K UHD Blu-rays in 2025 than the prior year. The Criterion Collection, a leading boutique Blu-ray label, confirmed significant year-over-year sales increases that its president credits to younger customers. Vidiots, a video store in Los Angeles, averaged 170 rentals a day in January 2026 -- its biggest month ever -- after loaning about 22,000 discs total in 2023 and roughly 50,000 in 2024. Barnes & Noble reported DVD and Blu-ray sales growth of "mid-double digits" over the past year.

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New ways to create and refine content in FlowNew ways to create and refine content in FlowProduct Manager, Google Labs

GoogleBlog - 7 hours 23 sec ago

We're introducing a handful of new features and capabilities to Flow.We're introducing a handful of new features and capabilities to Flow.

Categories: Technology

Ask a Techspert: What’s a world model?Ask a Techspert: What’s a world model?Contributor

GoogleBlog - 7 hours 23 sec ago

Learn more about Google’s Project Genie, as well as what makes a world model and what it can do.Learn more about Google’s Project Genie, as well as what makes a world model and what it can do.

Categories: Technology

Scientists Crack the Case of 'Screeching' Scotch Tape

Slashdot.org - 7 hours 23 sec ago

The screeching sound that Scotch tape makes when you rip it off a surface -- that fingernails-on-a-chalkboard noise most people try not to think about -- is produced by shock waves from micro-cracks that travel across the peeling tape at supersonic speeds, according to a new paper published in Physical Review E. Researchers led by Sigurdur Thoroddsen of King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia used simultaneous high-speed imaging and synchronized microphones to capture both the propagating fractures and the sound waves they generate in the surrounding air. The team's earlier work, in 2010, had identified a sequence of transverse cracks racing across the width of the adhesive during peeling, and a 2024 follow-up established a direct correspondence between those cracks and the screeching sound, but neither study pinpointed a mechanism. The new findings show that a partial vacuum forms between the tape and the surface as each crack opens, and because the crack moves faster than air can rush in to fill the void, the vacuum travels along until it reaches the tape's edge and collapses into the stationary air outside, producing a discrete sound pulse.

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Microsoft Japan Raided Over Suspected Violation of Anti-Monopoly Law

Slashdot.org - 8 hours 23 sec ago

An anonymous reader shares a report: Japan's Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan's offices on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether it improperly restricted customers of its Azure platform from using rival cloud services, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The source said Japan's antitrust authorities would also be seeking clarification from Microsoft's parent company in the United States. Microsoft Japan is suspected of setting conditions that effectively shut out other services by limiting access to popular services on other cloud platforms, the source said.

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