Submission + - China's Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing (reuters.com)

schwit1 writes: China's Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet's Google, that would allow the U.S. cloud giants to host its blockbuster Kimi K3 model, three people familiar with the talks said.

Any deal could mark the first big revenue-sharing pact between a Chinese AI firm and a major U.S. cloud company.

The discussions highlight how China's leading AI models, often far cheaper than Western offerings, are gaining traction in the U.S., despite national security concerns in Washington that have led to bans on exports of AI chips to China. They are also taking place despite critical comments about Moonshot from senior U.S. officials.

IPO-bound Moonshot is seeking up to a 30% share of revenue generated from K3-related services on Microsoft's Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, according to the sources who declined to be identified because the discussions are private.

That would be in line with terms that sources have said the startup has outlined for major customers using the open-weight model.

Moonshot has come under fire from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said last month that he might add it to a trade blacklist. U.S. officials have accused the Beijing-based company of stealing from Anthropic's most sophisticated model, Fable, to help create Kimi K3 and illegally acquiring Nvidia chips.

Founded in 2023 by Carnegie Mellon-trained AI researcher Yang Zhilin, Moonshot is backed by several Chinese tech giants including cloud computing giant Alibaba.

Submission + - How Big Tech Captured American Schools

theodp writes: In How Big Tech Captured American Schools (alt source), an adapted excerpt of the forthcoming book Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools, the New York Times' Natasha Singer begins: "Many parents would likely object if, say, Exxon Mobil wrote their children’s environmental science curriculum. Or if Purdue Pharma trained their children’s biology teachers. Yet, over the last decade, schools have often embraced the technology industry in similar ways with few questions asked. Industry-sponsored teacher training is just one technique that Big Tech companies use to shape schools and promote their worldviews to students. In interviewing more than 100 education and tech industry figures for my book, and reviewing hundreds of school, government and corporate documents, it became clear that a handful of giants have used their money, their might and their mammoth platforms to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain."

"Consumer tech giants provide the essential scaffolding that schools run on. That means laptops and tablets; operating systems and device-tracking software; the apps students use to write essays and analyze data; the messaging platforms that connect students and teachers; and more. Some of these companies, including Google, Microsoft and Apple, have also used their status as classroom tech providers as a springboard to influence how and what schoolchildren learn."

"This story matters whether you want schools to center tech skills or are agnostic, because the recent learn-to-code craze and the growing push for A.I. in schools are not just about learning. Those trends are part of a larger exercise of Silicon Valley power. The public education system, hungry for resources to improve opportunities for students, has become an avenue for multitrillion-dollar companies to enact their agendas."

"This development taps into fundamental questions about education that Americans have been arguing over for more than a century. What is the purpose of public schooling? Is it to raise critical, independent thinkers? Train students in the latest career skills? Help young people discover their passions? Serve the needs of the prevailing industry or emerging ones? Create knowledgeable and active participants in a democracy? Or all of the above?"

In an accompanying LinkedIn post, Singer adds: "Every few years, Silicon Valley has urged American public schools to quickly adopt the latest technology or teach the latest tech subject: Big Data analytics; laptops for every child; algorithm-driven math and reading apps; computer programming; virtual reality. And each time the urgent arguments sounded remarkably similar: if schools just adopted the latest tech tool, or taught the latest tech subject, it would democratize learning for every child and equip students with valuable career skills. The campaign to expand student access to computer science and other efforts had good intentions. But today we know some of those classroom tech drives did not exactly pan out as advertised. Now some of the same companies that urged schools to provide laptops and coding lessons are employing similar arguments to urge schools to quickly adopt A.I. tools. I've spent years covering Chromebooks and student chatbot use. And I'm troubled by our collective amnesia around school tech."

Submission + - Study: Most Mealtime Screen Time Is TV, Not Social Media (reason.com)

fjo3 writes: Everyone has seen them out at restaurants: the "iPad babies" and zoned-out families. Parents letting their children, some quite young, stare at phones or tablets throughout the meal, sometimes while mom and dad also look at screens.

It's easy to judge those families, though I try to remind myself that we, as casual onlookers, never know the full story. Maybe this almost never happens but tonight the parent has a crucial work deadline. Maybe it's been that rare kind of extraordinarily stressful day. Maybe that boy has developmental issues and this is the only way he can get through a restaurant meal, which the family needs to do because they're traveling. Maybe, whatever the reason, this is an anomaly and not the mealtime norm.

But screen time during meals may be the norm for many families, according to some new research published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Hold up, though—before you call in Jonathan Haidt (or Josh Hawley, or Jean Twenge, or whoever your favorite tech-panic evangelist might be), take a closer look at what sorts of screens that kids are using. The most common form of mealtime media consumption for kids in this study was "watching content on a large-screen device." That is, a TV, or something akin to a TV.

Submission + - DHH gets $8 million from tech heavyweights to take desktop Linux mainstream (nerds.xyz)

BrianFagioli writes: DHH has launched the Omacom Foundation with $8 million from Michael Dell, Jack Dorsey, Tobi Lutke, Patrick Collison, Matthew Prince, Brendan Iribe, Jason Fried, and DHH himself. The nonprofit is meant to support Omarchy, fund infrastructure, hold trademarks, promote the project, and back the open source software it depends on.

The foundation is already putting money to work by becoming the exclusive sponsor of Hyprland creator Vaxry under a three year deal with an option for two more years. Omarchy is an Arch Linux based operating system built around Hyprland and Quickshell, with a keyboard driven workflow aimed heavily at developers and power users.

Submission + - OpenAI and Google Move Into K-12 Classrooms with New Kid-Friendly AI Offerings

theodp writes: "OpenAI announced on Tuesday 'ChatGPT for Teens'", the NY Times reports, "a new mode in which the chatbot automatically limits some conversations to better protect young users, as scrutiny grows over the harmful effects of artificial intelligence." OpenAI added that it's also teaming with tech-backed nonprofit CodeAI to 'prepare the first AI generation', announcing a 'signature partnership' that it says will "give students and educators access to tools and resources that will help them learn how to use and benefit from AI [...] helping teens understand how AI works, direct it, question it, and create with it—with teachers playing a meaningful role in shaping how AI enters the classroom." Separately, CodeAI said it and OpenAI will be "helping students build foundational AI literacy" via the Hour of AI, through which it said "OpenAI and CodeAI will introduce millions of students to the basics of using AI thoughtfully and responsibly."

OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens announcement came just days after the NY Times reported that Google turned on Gemini AI for K-12 students using its Google Classroom, a learning management system for posting assignments and turning in schoolwork that's used by 150+ million students and teachers worldwide. A new Gemini tab within Classroom will allow students of all ages to seek AI help on math problems and writing assignments. They can also generate course aids like study guides, quizzes and flashcards, as well as produce images. Last September, Google CEO Sundar Pichai briefed the White House on the tech giant's efforts to get Gemini for Education in 'every high school in America', which he noted "includes $3 million to Code.org [since rebranded as CodeAI] to transform its [K-12] curriculum and integrate new AI features." And in December, Google.org kicked off the inaugural 'Hour of AI' by announcing "over $5 million in new Google.org funding to bolster computer science teaching in the age of AI." The 5-day event during CS Education Week saw 13+ million schoolkids take AI tutorials, including Google's AI Quests offering.

The moves by Google and OpenAI in advance of children's return to classrooms for the 2026-27 school year further escalate the race among U.S. tech giants to train students on their AI tools. They also come just ahead of next month's release of NYT journalist Natasha Singer's Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools, "the inside story of how Big Tech catalyzed, co-opted, and ultimately came to capture computer science and AI education in America."

Submission + - San Francisco Bay Area dethroned as largest tech talent market (sfgate.com)

fjo3 writes: The San Francisco Bay Area, epicenter of the artificial intelligence boom, is home to a massive amount of tech workers employed by some of the world's most valuable companies, from Apple to Nvidia.

But for the first time, New York has eclipsed the Bay Area as the home of the largest "tech talent workforce," a report by real estate and investment firm CBRE shows. The firm has published the annual report for 13 years.

Last year, the New York Metro Area's tech talent workforce reached 394,300, surpassing the Bay Area's 375,730, according to the report. Fueled by mass layoffs, the Bay Area's tech talent workforce dropped by 6% from 2022 to 2025. New York's tech talent workforce, on the other hand, grew by more than 8% during that period

Submission + - China Joins Europe In Scrapping Windows For Linux (zdnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: According to a Bloomberg report, attributed to China's Ministry of State Security, the country has ordered some government agencies to drop Windows 10 China Government Edition for Chinese-made Linux distributions. Why not Windows 11? Because China, like many other non-US governments, no longer trusts American companies with their software and services. This approach is all about digital sovereignty. In addition, even before the recent trend of governments outside America moving away from Windows, Beijing has started a long-running push to replace foreign technology in sensitive systems with domestic, open-source alternatives.

[...] The Chinese government did not specify which Linux versions would replace Windows 10. However, the stock prices of Chinese Linux suppliers, Kylin Software and Tongxin Software Technology (commonly known as UnionTech), immediately jumped. These companies' respective operating systems, Kylin OS (no relation to Ubuntu Kylin) and UnionTech OS (UOS), were already positioned as domestic desktop and server replacements for Windows in government, state-owned enterprise, and critical-infrastructure environments. [...] Huawei's HarmonyOS 2, which began as an Android variant but is now a proprietary mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, is also being developed into a PC platform. HarmonyOS 2 won't be deployed anytime soon. Kylin and UOS are the only mature desktops that are ready for institutional desktop deployments.

[...] ... this transition won't be easy. For agencies now moving off the government Windows build, the issue will be more demanding than simply swapping one desktop interface for another. Migration requires application testing, peripheral and driver validation, identity system integration, document-format compatibility, staff retraining and, in many cases, replacement or adaptation of Windows-dependent line-of-business software. The report provides no details on exactly how this transformation will occur. But the speed of the shift suggests that these issues are already being addressed in China's centralized managed desktop stack.

Submission + - AI Boosted Homework Scores, Then Exam Scores Dropped (economist.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Students and school children are increasingly using artificial intelligence. A survey last year by Chegg, an ed-tech firm, found that 80% of rich-world undergraduates used it in their studies. More recent polls put the figure at 94% in Britain and 93% in Germany. Such widespread adoption has fueled concerns about the impact the technology might be having on learning. Teachers report marking identikit essays that they suspect are churned out by ChatGPT. Yet firm evidence on AI’s educational effects has been lacking.

David Stromberg of Stockholm University and Victor Lei and Wu Yanhui of the University of Hong Kong set out to fill the gap. They tracked 27,000 pupils aged 12-18 in China, where AI adoption has been fast. Around 80% reported using models such as Doubao and DeepSeek; the other 20% formed the control group.

The results are eye-opening. After six months, pupils using AI saw their average homework score rise by 18% across all subjects. The time they took to complete each assignment fell from an average of 64 minutes to 45. But come exam time, the same students scored 20% below their classmates who had not called on AI’s help. Homework scores once predicted exam performance; now those who score highest are, perversely, more likely to do worse in exams.

Submission + - FCC Abolishes Gigabit Speed Goal, Suggesting It Is Unfair to Slower Technologies (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Federal Communications Commission last week eliminated the gigabit speed goal established during the Biden administration and declared that current levels of broadband deployment in the US are acceptable. Though fiber networks have routinely offered such speeds for years, the FCC said the gigabit speed goal is not “technologically neutral,” suggesting that it isn’t fair to other, slower technologies.

In 2024, the FCC raised its broadband benchmark to 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream, setting the new standard by which to judge whether deployment is reasonable and timely. The FCC at the time also set a long-term speed goal of 1Gbps download speeds paired with 500Mbps upload speeds, saying it would use the goal “as a guidepost for evaluating our efforts to encourage deployment.” Republican Brendan Carr, who is now the FCC chairman, never liked that long-term goal. He proposed abolishing it last year, and the change was finalized on August 14 in the FCC’s latest broadband deployment report. The reports are mandated by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act.

“As part of our return to following the plain language of Section 706, we adopt our proposal from the Notice [of Inquiry] to abolish without replacement the long-term goal of 1,000/500 Mbps established in the 2024 Report,” the order said. “A long-term goal is not mentioned in Section 706 and could appear to violate our obligation to conduct our analysis in a technologically neutral manner. At present, it is impossible to predict long-term technological developments and the evolution of consumer preferences." The FCC said that comments submitted by cable industry group NCTA and wireless industry group CTIA “support our reasoning for abolishing the long-term goal.”

Submission + - NeXT desperately needed the sales and the CIA needed the high-end workstations (wsj.com)

regoli writes: In the mid-1980s Steve Jobs was getting NeXT off the ground. Then the CIA called asking to use the company’s fledgling yet high-end workstations for its top secret projects. The Wall Street Journal has the excerpt from “Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War”, a new book by Sharon Weinberger and published by Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

Submission + - The Year's Ugliest Animated Movie Has Become an Anti-AI Phenomenon (gizmodo.com)

hackingbear writes: A crude, low-tech animation about a cow and a skylark has become a sleeper hit at China’s box office, sitting alongside blockbusters such as The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in cinema revenue rankings, jumping from its opening day grossed only 342 yuan ($50) to almost 15 million yuan ($2.25m), with some projecting it to hit 1.3 billion yuan (~$192m), after discussion online about how bad the film was turned it into a meme. Niu Lai, which translates to The Cow is Coming, is an 86-minute budget animation about a newborn calf and a skylark whose relationship develops over the course of an abstract dream sequence. Chinese film site Mao Yan lists Niu Lai as being written, animated, and voiced entirely by two people, Xin Yumeng and his mother Sun Lifang, without the support of a professional production team, outsourced processes, rendering teams, or AI. The BBC is reporting that “[Niu Lai] does not even have a proper promotional poster, [so] cinema staff have resorted to drawing their own posters to entice audiences to watch.” Audiences seemed to appreciate its outsider-y charm, and the fact that whatever its merits, the film feels undeniably human—largely because even AI slop doesn’t look quite this bad.

Submission + - It's On: OpenAI ChatGPT for Teens and Google Gemini Vie for K-12 Schoolchildren

theodp writes: "We’re introducing ChatGPT for Teens, announced OpenAI on Tuesday, "an experience designed to help teens learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI with confidence. It provides stronger built-in safety protections for teens, including features to promote healthy use and additional controls for parents." The partnership, OpenAI explains, "also builds on our ChatGPT for Teachers work to empower teachers and districts to guide AI use and our ongoing work with the American Federation of Teachers to build AI skills.

OpenAI added that it's also "partnering with [tech-backed nonprofit] CodeAI to prepare the first AI generation", announcing a 'signature partnership' to give students and educators access to tools and resources that will help them learn how to use and benefit from AI [...] helping teens understand how AI works, direct it, question it, and create with it—with teachers playing a meaningful role in shaping how AI enters the classroom." Separately, CodeAI provided a few details on how they'll work with OpenAI, including "helping students build foundational AI literacy" via the Hour of AI, through which it said "OpenAI and CodeAI will introduce millions of students to the basics of using AI thoughtfully and responsibly." With funding and encouragement from Microsoft, which is partnering with OpenAI on the $22.5 million AFT AI skill building and has a stake in OpenAI valued as high as $228 billion, CodeAI — formerly known as Code.org before rebranding in June — replaced its signature 'Hour of Code' event last December with the new 'Hour of AI' in a pivot from coding to AI literacy.

Interestingly, OpenAI's K-12 AI announcement comes less than a week after Google turned on Gemini AI for K-12 students using its Google Classroom, a learning management system for posting assignments and turning in schoolwork that's used by 150+ million students and teachers worldwide. At last September's White House AI Education Taskforce meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai briefed First Lady Melania Trump on the tech giant's efforts to get Gemini for Education in 'every high school in America', which he noted "includes $3 million to Code.org [now CodeAI] to transform its [K-12] curriculum and integrate new AI features." And in December, VP and Global Head of Google.org Maggie Johnson — who joined Code.org's Board together with Microsoft President Brad Smith back in 2013 as founding members — kicked off the 'Hour of AI' by announcing "over $5 million in new Google.org funding to bolster computer science teaching in the age of AI."

So, who do you think will win the AI custody battle over the nation's K-12 schoolchildren and their teachers? Is Google vs. OpenAI/Microsoft shaping up to be 2026's Kramer vs. Kramer?

Submission + - Google Turns On Gemini AI for K-12 Students Using Its Classroom App

theodp writes: The NY Times reports: "Google turned on its Gemini chatbot this week for some elementary through high school students using its popular Classroom app for schools, escalating a race among U.S. tech giants to train students on their artificial intelligence tools. Google Classroom, a learning management system for posting assignments and turning in schoolwork, is used by more than 150 million students and teachers worldwide. Until this week, Google automatically enabled Gemini in Classroom only for students 18 or older. Now, a new Gemini tab within Classroom will allow students of all ages to seek A.I. help on math problems and writing assignments. They can also generate course aids like study guides, quizzes and flashcards, as well as produce images."

"Google’s drive to increase student access to its A.I. tools ramps up a longstanding battle among tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft to capture classrooms and secure students as long-term customers. Newcomers to the school tech market, like the A.I. start-ups Anthropic and OpenAI, have recently started programs for K-12 teachers. But so far OpenAI and Anthropic have not made their ChatGPT and Claude chatbots available for student use in U.S. public schools. The industry is pushing for classroom chatbots as parents’ groups in New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere are pressing schools to temporarily halt rollouts of student A.I. products. These groups say A.I. chatbots can pose risks to children’s safety, privacy and critical thinking. Some warn that using chatbots to generate study aids like flashcards and text summaries may hinder students’ learning."

At last September's White House AI Education Taskforce meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai briefed First Lady Melania Trump on the tech giant's efforts to get Gemini for Education in 'every high school in America', which he noted "includes $3 million to [tech-backed nonprofit] code.org to transform its [K-12] curriculum and integrate new AI features." The NY Times article coincidentally appeared as Code.org, which the Chronicle of Philanthropy recently noted has since rebranded itself as CodeAI in a pivot that aligns itself well with its bet-the-bank-on-AI tech donors, was wrapping up "our first-ever AI Education Hackathon" (thanking co-founding sponsors Google, Microsoft, and Amazon on LinkedIn for making it possible), "bringing engineers and builders with a background in AI and education to Boston for ... two days of building in the open toward a shared goal: preparing every student for a world reshaped by AI."

Submission + - Vulnerability giving attackers full control on Mac is under active exploitation (arstechnica.com)

joshuark writes: Dutch officials have warned that a high-severity macOS vulnerability that allows attackers to execute malicious code is under active exploitation.

“The NCSC has received a notification indicating that active abuse of this vulnerability has been observed on multiple systems on which port 5900 was accessible from the Internet,” the Netherlands National Cyber Security Centrum warned earlier this week. “In all these cases, root had been accessed on the affected system and a Monero crypto miner had been placed.”

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-65400, received a patch from Apple last week for macOS Tahoe, Sequoia, and Sonoma. The vulnerability, with a severity rating of 7.1 out of 10, stems from a bug in the macOS screen sharing capability, which allows a remote party to view the screen and control the keyboard and mouse while a machine is turned on. A flaw in the “state management,” which keeps track of preceding events, user interactions, variables, and other system states, is the underlying cause.

A video of the exploit in action can be found here. Details of CVE-2026-65400 became public at last week’s Black Hat security conference. Apple said last week that CVE-2026-65400 “may” allow an attacker without credentials to gain access to a Mac. It’s unclear why Apple hedged, but softening language is common among most tech developers when disclosing vulnerabilities.

As noted by the NCSC, the vulnerability is being exploited when port 5900 is exposed to the Internet. When screen sharing is turned on, the macOS firewall opens the port. Routers and dedicated firewalls generally block the port unless configured to override that setting. Security practitioners generally advise Mac users to keep the port closed even when using screen sharing and to instead connect over a VPN or through SSH tunneling. The alternatives require actions that aren’t within the capabilities of most users.

The safest practice is to block screen sharing, enable it only when screen sharing is needed, and to turn the feature off once a session has ended. Screen sharing can be turned on or off by accessing System Settings > General > Sharing and toggling the switch for Screen Sharing. Of course, installing last week’s security update is also a must. Sharing is not caring.

Submission + - AI and the 4-Day Work Week (bbc.com)

hadleyburg writes: The BBC reports "Tech leaders say AI means less work — their staff say they work up to 90 hours a week".

While a 4-day working week was suggested as one of the benefits of AI, it hasn't yet come to pass — not even in the AI companies themselves.

Submission + - Shake Shack says tech glitch explains viral no-tip video (kget.com)

the_skywise writes: "Shake Shack says a technology glitch, not a no-tip surcharge, caused the price increase shown in a viral video at a licensed airport location.
“It is not Shake Shack policy, nor that of our licensees, to increase the price of menu items when no tip is added,” the company said in an email to NewsNation on Monday.
The clarification comes after a TikTok video sparked online backlash over what appeared to be a penalty for not tipping."

Shake Shack claims it was a franchisee location that had a bug in their software that they've now fixed.

Submission + - AI push is putting banks at mercy of tech firms, warns Moody's (theguardian.com)

Alain Williams writes: The rating agency Moody’s has said the race to adopt AI is putting big banks at the mercy of a small group of Silicon Valley firms, leaving them vulnerable to widespread outages and price gouging by profit-hungry tech bosses.

The financial sector’s efforts to integrate AI into day-to-day operations will eventually cut costs and increase revenues across the City and Wall Street, Moody’s said.

But that will require “substantial investments”, and with so many rivals racing towards the same goal, many of those benefits will end up being “competed away”.

AI will also create bigger risks around data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud and so-called “deposit flight”, as well as an overdependence on a small number of tech firms, the rating agency warned.

Submission + - China-free batteries made from salt are finally here (msn.com)

fjo3 writes: U.S. startups are finally delivering something researchers have been working on for decades: a battery in which rare, hard-to-get elements are replaced with the same stuff found in ordinary table salt.

This tech has the potential to help every country on earth break its dependence on China for batteries, and the critical minerals that go into them.

Like any other battery, sodium-ion cells can store and release energy. They are initially being deployed where they’re needed most, in America’s power grid and fast-expanding crop of data centers. As in our homes, giving the grid or other infrastructure the ability to stockpile energy when it is cheap and plentiful, and discharge it when it is scarce, can increase reliability and lower the cost of electricity.

Submission + - FCC Kills TV Ownership Cap, Claiming Authority Over Limit Set By Congress (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Federal Communications Commission voted 2–1 today to eliminate the National Television Ownership Rule, claiming authority to repeal a limit that was set by Congress over 20 years ago. The rule prohibits any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of all TV households in the US. Under Chairman Brendan Carr, the FCC is replacing the rule with a “case-by-case review” of each proposed merger.

“This will empower the FCC to approve deals that promote the public interest while allowing the agency to reject any deals that do not meet that standard,” Carr’s office said in a press release today. Without the 39 percent rule, broadcasters will be better able to compete against streaming companies that don’t face similar limits, Carr’s office said.

The change, if not stopped by courts, will make it easier for Carr to allow broadcast mergers that result in more favorable news coverage for President Trump. Carr has consistently threatened to revoke licenses from broadcasters who have drawn Trump’s ire, including by ordering an early license review of all ABC-owned stations. Carr said local broadcast TV stations are becoming “undifferentiated passthroughs of national programming produced in Hollywood and New York,” and he justified repealing the ownership rule by arguing it will help the stations invest in local news.

Submission + - Meta AI Hacked External Systems During Cybersecurity Testing (securityweek.com)

wiredmikey writes: Meta is the latest major AI developer to admit that its models broke loose during cybersecurity testing and hacked external systems. The tech giant said in a statement to the media on Wednesday that the incident occurred during independent evaluations conducted by Israeli AI security startup Irregular.

Slashdot Top Deals