IT

"Battery breakthroughs will lessen AI's demand on the electricity grid," argues The Washington Post's editoral board, arguing that GM's latest moves "offer a fresh reminder that resource constraints can be solved by innovation." Or As Fortune put it, "America's electric grid is buckling under extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and an AI build-out that is quietly rewriting U.S. power demand — and General Motors wants to turn that crisis into a business." They describe GM's plan as offering itself "as a distributed utility in disguise... stitching together hundreds of thousands of battery-powered cars, new grid-scale storage, and a unified charging platform into what amounts to a virtual fleet of power plants." The bet puts GM on a collision course with Ford's newly branded Ford Energy unit as both Detroit rivals race to repurpose underused EV capacity for a more urgent problem: keeping the lights on in the AI era. GM's case rests on three planks. The first is its existing fleet. GM says more than 250,000 of its EVs on U.S. roads can already charge bidirectionally — pulling electricity from the grid and sending it back. "Every evening, a quiet transformation occurs across the American landscape," GM Energy vice president Wade Sheffer writes in an open letter to utilities and regulators, describing the EVs sitting in driveways as "a massive opportunity to aggregate energy storage capacity." A firmware update is rolling out to customers with GM Energy's vehicle-to-home hardware, converting those systems into full vehicle-to-grid assets with no new hardware and turning home backup systems into grid resources when utilities need them. GM is piloting the idea in Michigan with DTE Energy at 30 employee homes, and has sketched a 2030 vision with Pacific Gas & Electric in which more than 52,000 GM EVs help balance the grid out of a projected 130,000 vehicles in the area. GM is also "seeking partnerships with utility companies nationwide to assist in offering such vehicle-to-grid services for customers," reports CNBC, noting it's one of two moves "meant to address concerns about rising energy costs amid an artificial intelligence boom." Forbes reports that GM's second goal "is to leapfrog the dominant battery cell tech used for energy storage packs right now" — right past the LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) stage, "which is dominated by China." Sodium batteries are cheaper to use than LFP because they don't need an additional cooling system. They also have a 20-year usable life and are made from materials that can be sourced from within the U.S., the company said at a briefing in San Francisco on Tuesday. "Sodium-ion actually is the better chemistry for that application. And when I say sodium-ion is better, I mean GM's version of sodium-ion," Kurt Kelty, GM's battery chief and a long-time Tesla battery executive, told Forbes. He said GM is seeing great results from its prototypes, even at scorching temperatures of 55 Celsius (131 Fahrenheit). "Sodium-ion-powered energy storage systems have the potential to operate without active cooling and with much less system complexity," Kurt Kelty, GM's vice president of battery and sustainability, said Tuesday in a blog post. "In large energy storage systems, that matters." Not having to cool the battery cells could lead to lower upfront costs as well as operating costs, the automaker said. TechCrunch reports on GM's big new partnership with energy-storage startup Peak Energy to develop GM's sodium-ion battery chemistry for grid-scale deployments: GM wouldn't share with TechCrunch how much money it is investing in this energy-storage effort. But we do know the company has committed $900 million to commercialize new battery chemistries, an investment that includes a new battery-development center. .. The first GM cells are expected to enter trial production at the company's Battery Cell Development Center in 2028. "Our next-generation sodium-ion cell development will drive energy density higher," promises GM's blog post, arguing they're extending the company's battery expertise and technical infrastructure "into the electrical grid itself. If we get this right, we will not just build better batteries. We will help create a more resilient, more affordable and more flexible energy future... Every improvement we make strengthens the development stack that supports both EVs and energy storage." "The message: GM isn't just selling cars into a stressed grid; it's supplying the batteries to stabilize it," argues Fortune. And GM also announced they're augmenting their apps with an "Energy Pass" offering "seamless access to Tesla Supercharger, IONNA, Electrify America, and soon, ChargePoint and EVgo networks." Their goal is to simplify the charging experience with an app "that covers nearly 70% of all DC fast chargers in the United States, plus many Level 2 chargers, all through one app."

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This month saw the release of Vim Classic 8.3, the first stable version of a new long-term support fork of Vim maintained without generative AI tools. Linuxiac reports: The release is based on Vim 8.2.0148 and includes selected bug fixes and patches backported from later upstream Vim releases. Vim Classic was first announced by [SourceHut's CEO/founder] Drew DeVault in March 2026 after he objected to LLM-assisted development in Vim and Neovim. In his announcement, DeVault said he no longer wanted to use software developed with LLM assistance and introduced Vim Classic as a fork for users who want to continue using Vim without that involvement... Vim Classic follows Vim's charityware model and continues to direct users toward Bram Moolenaar's long-running support for children in Uganda. The release is distributed as a signed source tarball from SourceHut, while future important announcements are expected through the project's mailing list. "Vim is important to me..." DeVault wrote in March. (DeVault even tattooed "hjkl" on his right arm.) "[A]lmost every word I have ever committed to posterity, through this blog, in my code, all of the docs I've written, emails I've sent, and more, almost all of it has passed through Vim." But DeVault wrote that he also cares about AI's impact on air pollution, fresh water supplies, global supply chains, and the working conditions of miners in African companies: And at a moment when the climate demands immediate action to reduce our footprint on this planet, the AI boom is driving data centers to consume a full 1.5% of the world's total energy production in order to eliminate jobs and replace them with a robot that lies... All this to enrich the few, centralize power, reduce competition, and underwrite an enormous bubble that, once it bursts, will ruin the lives of millions of the world's poor and marginalized classes. I don't think it's cute that someone vibe coded "battleship" in VimScript. I think it's more important that we stop collectively pretending that we don't understand how awful all of this is. I don't want to use software which has slop in it. I do what I can to avoid it, and sadly even Vim now comes under scrutiny in that effort as both Vim and NeoVim are relying on LLMs to develop the software... To keep my conscience clear, and continue to enjoy the relationship I have with this amazing piece of software, I have forked Vim... Since forking from this base, I have backported a handful of patches, most of which address CVEs discovered after this release, but others which address minor bug fixes. I also penned a handful of original patches which bring the codebase from this time up to snuff for building it on newer toolchains... I invite you to use Vim Classic, if you feel the same way as me, and to maintain it with me, contributing the patches you need to support your own use cases.

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More than 1,500 user-contributed packages in the Arch Linux User Repository "AUR" were infected with malware, reports Phoronix: The last message in the thread over this security incident is noting that Arch Linux developers have deleted all the malicious commits they are aware of. Cited was this list that puts the number of malware-affected packages at 1,579... Even at 1,579 packages listed, that final updated noted, it's a "list containing many (but not all) of the affected packages". Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader couchslug for sharing the report.

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"A coalition of state attorneys general has opened an investigation into OpenAI," reports the Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter." OpenAI was served Friday with a subpoena seeking documents related to a broad range of its activities and impact on users, including advertising, user engagement and retention, handling of consumer data and health data, activities related to minors and seniors, deep learning models, model sycophancy and company policies, some of the people said. The subpoena, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, was sent by New York's attorney general.... Earlier this month, Florida became the first state to file a lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman. The lawsuit claims OpenAI and Altman knowingly released an unsafe product and ignored warnings that it could harm users. Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI in April over the role its chatbot played in a mass shooting that killed two people at Florida State University last year. The suspect allegedly turned to ChatGPT as a confidant and sounding board to plan the attack, and the chatbot dispensed advice for his questions... State attorneys general have been scrutinizing OpenAI's competitors in the AI industry as well. In December, a coalition of 42 state attorneys general led by Pennsylvania's Dave Sunday sent a letter to companies including OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, Google and xAI. In the letter, the Attorneys General demanded safeguards to protect vulnerable users from harmful interactions with chatbots, warning that "developers may be held accountable for the outputs of their GenAI products" for "encouraging an individual to commit a criminal act." "We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously," OpenAI told the Journal in a statement, "and intend to engage constructively with their offices." The article also acknowledges that The Wall Street Journal's parent company "has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI."

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It's the 10-year anniversary of Britain's "Brexit" vote withdrawing from the European Union. But a new UK poll "shows that a new Brexit referendum would reverse the vote that led to Britain's departure," reports Bloomberg: Fifty-two percent of Britons think the UK should rejoin the EU, according to an Ipsos survey of 1,137 British adults conducted between May 14 and May 20. That's the inverse of the mood in June 2016 when a comparable share of the electorate backed Brexit... Younger voters overwhelmingly favor reversing Brexit, whereas half of those ages 55 and above oppose returning to the bloc. "The number of people who say Brexit is going worse than they had predicted has almost doubled in the past five years," reports The Independent, " from 27% in 2021 to 48% today — more than those saying it was going as well as or better than expected." [T]here is more backing for a second referendum, with 48 per cent now saying they would support one, against 27 per cent who would oppose it. Even a fifth of Reform UK voters and a quarter of those who voted Leave in 2016 would back a second vote, the study found. Tufts University discussed the last 10 years with the European Studies chair at their international relations graduate school: Q: Have their fears of negative financial effects been realized? A: The figures are quite revealing: The British GDP has been reduced by 6-8%, business investment has been reduced by 12%, and trade volume has been reduced by 15%, compared to what it could have been if the U.K. had remained in the EU... Q: What do you think happens next? A: The United Kingdom made a choice and they might have the opportunity, at some point, to revise this choice. I hope that when they have to decide again, they will be much more informed.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Once again, AI proves to be an unreliable source of information about AI.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy may have been the source of security concerns that led Anthropic to cut off worldwide access to two models on Friday.

It's not clear which states are involved, but they're asking about everything from OpenAI's ad policies to its handling of health data.

I’ve struggled with insomnia since I was very young. Like many chronic overthinkers, I tend to fall asleep best when my mind is occupied by something else, such as podcasts, YouTube compilations, or my personal favorite: rain sounds. But earbuds can be uncomfortable, and playing audio out loud isn’t exactly considerate when I’m staying at [...]

Hidden inside a building in Alabama, the FBI has created its own small town as a dedicated cyber training ground for simulating cyberattacks.

The point-and-click adventure game based on the horror anthology series arrives in August.

The magnetic fields emitted by your headphones will need to be used a safe distance away from your CIDs.

You can use your AirPods as a remote control for your iPhone's camera. Here's how.

This week's science news.

Have you ever looked at a USB connector or port and wondered why it was that color?

Spoiler: It doesn't end well for Team Register

Honey, I flattened the datacenter network

Minister says trusts can go it alone on procurement as Parliament mulls February 2027 FDP contract renewal

A blast from the past greets commuters

AI agents can't be trusted, so don't give them dangerous powers

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for June 14, No. 833.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for June 14, No. 1,099.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for June 14, No. 1,821.

Tons of recent releases, from blockbusters to independent films, are all streaming free this month.

These apps will make it easier to squeeze in a workout during your busy schedule.

There's nothing new or surprising, but it's still an entertaining film from one of our greatest directors.

Researchers have quantified the length and mass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks globally.

Commerce dept. worries that a Fable 5 "jailbreak" could be a national security threat.

As of today, SpaceX is owned by investors who will want to see it make money.

Vulnerability in the Oracle-owned PeopleSoft software is about as critical as they come.

The rest of Dyson’s promised 2026 vacuum lineup is here, from the new Dyson V16 Piston Animal to an updated version of the favored Dyson V8 Cyclone.

As World Cup action kicks off, we look at the physics of the beautiful game.

Plus: AI bug hunting fuels Microsoft’s biggest-ever Patch Tuesday, ShinyHunters ransomware gang exploits an Oracle zero-day, and more.

Whether you want to buy cheaper electricity, store solar energy, or guard against outages, EcoFlow’s home battery might be just what you need.

RJ Scaringe, the CEO of Rivian Automotive, joined us for a wide-ranging interview about how his company’s new electric SUV fits into the current EV industry, and what comes next.

What's really in that DNA kit? It turns out, it's not just a spit tube, but a whole lot of fine print.

Patients have never had more information about their health, but much of it is unusable. Here's why.

While known primarily for containers and servers, this lightweight distro could easily be your daily driver. Here's why.

Tech companies are evolving their health trackers to make them smaller, thinner, and near-invisible. Here's why.

Using a portable power station to its full potential is ideal for getting your money's worth and enjoying uninterrupted power.

A new Windows zero-day reportedly bypasses BitLocker, adding pressure on Microsoft as researchers debate the exploit’s real-world impact.

The post New Windows Zero-Day Claims BitLocker Bypass Amid Microsoft Disclosure Fight appeared first on TechRepublic.

Apple and Samsung may not need glucose-sensing smartwatches to compete in health AI. The next race is turning CGM data into useful advice.

The post Apple, Samsung, and the Race to Turn Glucose Data Into AI Health Advice appeared first on TechRepublic.

Elon Musk’s AI ecosystem spans xAI, Tesla, X, Neuralink, and SpaceX, connecting chatbots, robots, brain implants, and spacecraft.

The post Inside Elon Musk’s AI Ecosystem: How xAI, Tesla, X, Neuralink, and SpaceX Are Converging appeared first on TechRepublic.

Google is expanding home listing ads nationwide, raising new questions for Zillow, Redfin, Homes.com, MLSs, and real estate agents.

The post Google Expands Real Estate Ads Nationwide, Challenging Zillow and Redfin appeared first on TechRepublic.

iFixit’s teardown suggests the Trump T1 shares major hardware similarities with HTC’s U24 Pro, raising questions about its origins.

The post What’s Really Inside Trump’s Gold Smartphone? A Teardown Has Answers appeared first on TechRepublic.

Neither phone has been announced yet, but we still know plenty.

Later this year, assuming nothing goes wrong, Apple and Samsung will officially be competitors in the realm of foldable devices. What will that look like?

It's hard to say at this point because neither the iPhone Fold nor the Galaxy Z Fold 8 ...

Instagram users worldwide reported feed, login and posting issues as a widespread Meta outage disrupted services. The company acknowledged the problem and said teams were working to restore normal operations.

Elon Musk's net worth has surged following SpaceX's blockbuster IPO. Here's whether the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is now the richest person in the world and if he has officially achieved trillionaire status.

Get the latest updates on the Meta outages.

Updated on Friday, June 12 at 4:22 p.m. ET — Meta's status page indicates that all disruptions have been restored and all disruptions are now concluded.

Updated on Friday, June 12, at 1:26 p.m. ET — Andy Stone, Meta VP of Communications, posted an update on X that ...

The Oppo Reno 16 series has surfaced in a European retailer listing, revealing expected prices, colour options, and storage variants ahead of launch. A European retailer listing has revealed the prices, storage variants, and colour options of the upcoming Oppo Reno 16 series ahead of its expected launch.

Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist and a UW alum, returned to campus Friday with an optimistic but clear-eyed message about AI for Allen School graduates — many of them headed into the industry to help shape the future of technology. Read More

John Cook and Charles Fitzgerald call into the podcast from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland to debrief on a Rust Belt city's comeback and what Seattle can learn from it. Plus: the new data center moratorium, and why Fitzgerald is sitting out the SpaceX IPO. Read More

Microsoft has spent years subsidizing Xbox rather than profiting from it, CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged this week, as he addressed... Read More

Microsoft technical fellow and Azure Core CTO Marcus Fontura is departing; Xealth named its first CRO; and Slalom recruited a PNW lead from Accenture. Read More

Oregon-based nickel-zinc battery manufacturer ZincFive is headed to the Nasdaq via a $600M SPAC merger with SparkLabs Group to fund increased manufacturing to meet growing demand. Read More

China set three Guinness World Records after 33,615 drones created a giant aerial display featuring cultural imagery above Sichuan.

Creative Assembly has confirmed that Alien: Isolation 2 will be built with Unreal Engine 5, but the team is also developing custom technology.

Here's how to watch Brazil vs Morocco for free online and from anywhere as the five-time winners face the Atlas Lions in their FIFA World Cup 2026 opener.

Some small-footprint soundbars compromise on big, robust sound, but not the Pulse Cinema Mini.

Adaptive Security recruited Conan O'Brien for cybersecurity training videos aimed at helping employees recognize phishing deepfakes and AI-enabled fraud.