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Tech Firms Aren't Just Encouraging Their Workers To Use AI. They're Enforcing It.
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."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Americans Are Destroying Flock Surveillance Cameras
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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Intrinsic is joining Google to accelerate the future of physical AI.Intrinsic is joining Google to accelerate the future of physical AI.
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
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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Linux 6.18 and Several LTS Kernels Are Getting Extended Long-Term Support - 9to5Linux
Categories: Linux
Linux In Scientific Computing And Research Institutions (Adoption Rate) - commandlinux.com
Categories: Linux
Hacker Used Anthropic's Claude To Steal Sensitive Mexican Data
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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Linux Foundation reveals the "ugly" secret of how open source is draining your budget - The New Stack
The Linux Foundation reveals the "ugly" secret of how open source is draining your budget The New Stack
Categories: Linux
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
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.
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
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
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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
NVIDIA's New Job Postings Reveal A Big Push To Boost Gaming Performance On Linux - HotHardware
Categories: Linux