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AI risks require tougher cyber defenses, top US officials warn

The U.S. government’s top information security official warned that computer systems nationwide need to bolster their defenses to meet the growing threat of cyberattacks powered by artificial intelligence.

During remarks Wednesday, Acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Duffy said that the government and private-sector ...Read more

JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Jeff Bezos files to sell $4 billion in Amazon stock

SEATTLE -- Jeff Bezos filed plans Monday to sell nearly $4.1 billion in Amazon stock as shares hit a new all-time high.

Since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, the company’s founder has been selling off tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Amazon stock. The sales are part of prearranged trading plans, which are meant to shield ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Discarded SpaceX rocket crashes into Moon

Part of a SpaceX rocket, about the size of a school bus, is believed to have collided with the moon, independent scientists said Wednesday.

The rocket carried two lunar landers into space earlier this year, one for NASA and another from a Japanese company. After the lunar landers separated from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the team sought to ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Saudi Arabia's PIF completes acquisition of Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is now a private company, owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.

The $55 billion acquisition of the gaming giant was first announced last September, approved by EA's shareholders in December, and completed on Tuesday, according to a press release. The deal marked the largest all-...Read more

Imen Ben Youssef/ Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Gautam Mukunda: Anthropic is teaching CEOs everywhere a valuable lesson

America’s artificial intelligence titans recently banded together to urge the government not to restrict so-called open-weight AI models, or those that are publicly available for users to freely download and run on their own platforms, so that they can better compete with the ones coming out of China. All the usual suspects -- Nvidia Corp., ...Read more

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Marmots got money troubles: Cuts to UCLA research lead scientists to OnlyFans

LOS ANGELES -- Looking for some marmot content? Try OnlyFans or, rather, OnlyMarms.

Researchers at a UCLA-affiliated marmot research lab launched an OnlyFans account to post videos of marmots captured in the wild as a way to help generate funding for their work and offset federal cuts to universities.

Since it debuted at the end of May, the ...Read more

Cut rosewood logs sit in a large pile. These logs, the exact species of which are unknown, are in Madagascar, one of the hot spots of global rosewood trade. Maky via Wikimedia Commons

Wounaan Indigenous people have opposed illegal rosewood logging and centuries of exploitation with wisdom and beauty

Leer en español.

For millennia, the Wounaan people, who live in parts of what is now Panama and Colombia, have hewn and sculpted various woods. Cocobolo rosewood, Dalbergia retusa, is particularly favored for carving ceremonial staffs used in traditional medicine and commercial art depicting tropical plants and animals.

...Read more

During miserable heat waves, people tend to stay inside if it's cooler there, limiting social connection. AP Photo/Nathan Howard

Climate change may be making us lonelier: How heat waves and extreme weather disrupt social connections everyone relies on

Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors.

They’re also evidence of how climate change isn’t just changing the environments we all live in, but also impeding our ability to connect with one another.

...Read more

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SpaceX knocks out 50th launch on Space Coast this year

A predawn launch by SpaceX on the Space Coast marked the 50th from Florida in 2026.

A Falcon 9 rocket a mission to deploy the BlueBird 11, 12 and 13 satellites for AST SpaceMobile took flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifting off at 3:49 a.m.

The first-stage booster for this mission made its 30th trip ...Read more

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Review: ‘Halo: Campaign Evolved’ review: Tech issues aside, remake still thrills

It’s not a stretch to say that 2001’s “Halo: Combat Evolved” was a game-changer. A launch title for the original Xbox developed by Bellevue-based Bungie and published by Redmond-based Microsoft Game Studios, “Halo” was the reason to get an Xbox. It revolutionized the first-person shooter genre and left an indelible mark on the ...Read more

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‘Halo,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed’ and ‘Star Fox’ remakes translate the classics for modern tastes

Sony’s decision to stop physical disc production caused an uproar among gamers. It marks a sea change for the industry as PlayStation shifts to an all-digital future. For collectors, it’s a devastating end. Physical discs are prized because they give players an object to have in hand, but the bigger issue is that it raises the issue of ...Read more

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Gadgets: A heavenly mini foot massager

The Ibreo 4-in-1 Foot 3 mini foot massager is heaven -- so much so that I’m sitting at my desk writing this column as my feet are being massaged.

That's what you get with the spa-grade portable mini foot massager that Ibreo designed to support daily recovery and relaxation after long hours of standing or physical activity. It’s portable ...Read more

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Jim Rossman: Hotspot mode vs. public Wi-Fi

We’ve all been there.

You’re out at the mall or shopping at the grocery store or at a hotel and your phone offers to join an open Wi-Fi network.

Should you do it? Is public Wi-Fi safe to use?

Yes…and no.

Public Wi-Fi is safe enough for tasks like checking the news or looking up the closest good Chinese restaurant. It’s fine for ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Josh Farley: I will not roll over for AI. Neither should you

In the final season of HBO’s Hacks," Hannah Einbinder’s character, Ava, goes ballistic on an AI developer. When her boss and best friend, Deborah, played by Jean Smart, contemplates inputting a career’s worth of stand-up jokes into a ChatGPT-like large language model, Ava loses it.

“You either get on board or you get left in the past,�...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Commentary: HOAs can actually be a force for good

If you build a house in the United States today, there’s a good chance you’ll be living under the dictates of a neighborhood homeowners association. Roughly two out of every three new homes are in an HOA, as are a third of existing homes.

Some of these HOAs have evolved to encourage environmentally friendly yards, particularly in the desert...Read more

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Tech review: 4 accessories for heading back to school

It’s back to school time, and if you’ve got kids in high school or you’re sending them off to college, they’ll need some technology. Everyone should have their own laptop, and along with it, they’ll need some accessories.

Here are four things I’ve been testing that’ll be a big help for your scholars.

Boulies EP500

Anyone who ...Read more

Customers stand with empty cooking-gas cylinders in Srinagar, India, waiting to be able to refill them.  Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Oil shortages escalate from wars in Iran and Ukraine, with few signs of relief

The global energy crisis triggered by two wars is set to worsen, as Ukraine pummels Russia’s refining industry and Iranian attacks continue on Middle Eastern oil production and refining. Further, the nature of the destruction and the growing number of fronts and warring parties involved may herald a new era of extended vulnerability for ...Read more

Cole Burston/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Wildfires will only get worse until the US stops ignoring the climate crisis

President Donald Trump argued last month that Canada should pay damages — or face additional tariffs — for the wildfire smoke recently “poisoning” American air, and claimed that he strong-armed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the World Cup final in New Jersey, telling Carney he needed to stop the fires.

To Trump and the ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Growing smarter farmers: University, neighborhoods localize climate science

BALTIMORE -- Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm was thriving in Baltimore’s Greenspring neighborhood when researchers from Morgan State University proposed establishing a weather station in its fields.

Farm founder Richard “Farmer Chippy” Francis saw the value of long-term, local weather data. The former biomedical engineer saw a path to ...Read more

Harmon Dobson/The Denver Post/TNS

Artemis II astronauts reflect on space journey at Red Rocks: 'It was always our hope that the mission would move people'

DENVER — “How did it feel to look back at Earth?” a small voice asked the astronauts. A line of children waiting to pop their own questions snaked from the boy standing at the shortened microphone into the wings of Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Monday.

Christina Koch, one of four astronauts who manned NASA’s Artemis II mission in April, ...Read more