The big picture: Sony, LG, Panasonic, and retailers in general have been gradually withdrawing from the Blu-ray business for years as consumers increasingly favor streaming and other forms of digital distribution. However, some market indicators suggest that demand for physical media hasn't completely evaporated, with many consumers harboring concerns over quality and ownership. Sony recently announced plans to end Blu-ray media production in February, delivering yet another heavy blow to the future of physical media. The company will also cease manufacturing recording MiniDiscs, MD data, and MiniDV cassettes.This news follows Sony's decision last year to stop producing writable 25GB BD-REs, 50GB BD-RE DLs, 100GB BD-RE XLs, and 128GB BD-R XLs for consumers. In this week's brief announcement, Sony confirmed that "Blu-ray media production" will halt, though the exact formats affected were not specified.Manufacturers have been steadily exiting the Blu-ray market for years, as physical media sales continue to decline in favor of digital distribution. Panasonic, for example, stopped producing Blu-rays in 2023, citing weakening demand amid the growing popularity of streaming. Similarly, Best Buy discontinued sales of Blu-rays, Ultra-HD Blu-rays, and DVDs later that year.Sony has also acknowledged that the Blu-ray storage market never lived up to expectations. When the company announced the end of BD-R production last year, LG followed suit by exiting the Blu-ray player market a few months later. Currently, Sony and Panasonic are the last remaining major manufacturers of Blu-ray drives.It remains unclear how Sony's decision to end Blu-ray production will affect the distribution of physical games for its PlayStation consoles. The recently launched PlayStation 5 Pro does not include an optical drive by default, but demand for one was so strong that Sony's optional $80 Blu-ray drive attachment sold out quickly after the PS5 Pro's launch last fall. // Related StoriesThe retreat from Blu-ray manufacturing also carries significant implications for the home video market. While streaming dominates the landscape, many consumers continue to prefer physical discs for various reasons.Although the quality of 4K streaming is likely good enough for most viewers, Ultra-HD Blu-rays offer substantially higher bitrates. Furthermore, retaining a physical disc signifies true ownership of media, as content is never permanently available on streaming services.For now, major Hollywood films still receive physical home video releases. Meanwhile, consumer demand for discs has spurred a wave of Ultra-HD Blu-ray remasters of classic films from distributors like the Criterion Collection and others.

Its a brand new generation of Nvidias best graphics cards, but it still feels like dj vu. The RTX 5090 comes with a recommended list price (MSRP) of $2,000 and its set to hit the market on January 30, but some scalpers are already selling the card on eBay. Were no strangers to scalper prices, what with the GPU shortage weve all witnessed during the RTX 30-series, but the RTX 5090 is truly hitting new heights here, with some models priced at a whopping $7,000.As spotted by VideoCardz, some people have already gotten their hands on the RTX 5090, and they took to eBay to sell those cards at a premium. Many sellers dont actually have inventory right now, which is not surprising, given that the card isnt available yet; only reviewers got their GPUs early. Some listings say that the cards wont ship until February 5, which is a week after the release date, at which point it makes little sense to already buy an RTX 5090 at such a huge markup.Recommended VideosAnd when I say huge, I meanhuge. Scalper prices are never fun, but these cards are being sold for up to $7,000. Those offers dont have any bids wonder why but there are some listings ranging from $2,750 to $3,950 which have up to 30 bids each. This means that people are out there, buying these cards at nearly half the price, from sources that are often pretty dubious.The listing I shared above, which is currently at $3,950 and has a shocking 10 bids, was posted by a person who claims to be an employee of a certain technology retailer. They claim that they have a few guaranteed slots for the RTX 5090, which means that theyll be able to snag them early. The store expects to receive a shipment of RTX 5090s around January 30, and the seller warns that therell be a minimum waiting period of ten days between the retailer getting the cards and the buyer receiving their GPU.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Whats worse, this $4,000 GPU comes with no refunds or returns. The seller notes: Any potential faults with the product cannot be attributed to me, the seller. Any lack of functionality is considered a manufacturer defect, and as the seller, we cannot be attributed to fault. By purchasing this item, you agree to these terms. We do not provide refunds or accept returns.Needless to say, we dont recommend buying the RTX 5090 at scalper prices. It does seem like the RTX 50-series might have limited availability at first, which means that these cards will be sold in this manner, but its almost always better to wait it out even if it takes a few months.Editors Recommendations

If youre looking for great gaming PC deals, head over to HP. While it might seem a more likely outlet for standard desktop computer deals, HP is great for gaming through its HP Omen line of gaming desktops. Right now, you can buy the HP Omen 35L gaming desktop for $450 off, meaning instead of paying $1,400, you pay $950. That works out as a 32% price cut, so its a pretty sweet deal. In part, this is due to the launch of the GeForce RTX 50-series of GPUs, but investing in a 40-series GPU is still a good option. Heres what it has to offer.HP isnt a big name in the best gaming PCs world, but it has featured there in the past with its HP Omen range. With the HP Omen 35L, theres a lot to like. It has a 14th-generation Intel Core i5-14400F CPU teamed up with 16GB of Kingston Fury DDR5 and 512GB of SSD storage. For the graphics card, theres an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060. Understandably, none of this is top of the range, but its a good selection of hardware for $950.The HP Omen 35L has been designed well, with upgradeability in mind. Its simple to expand or customize yourself over time, and theres some great RGB lighting to accent how cool your setup looks. Fans promise improved temperatures while still sounding fairly quiet. Thats further helped by the cable management, which keeps things running smoothly with minimal issues with temperatures.RelatedThat all means the HP Omen 35L looks cool the kind of setup you want to show off (especially if you stream) while still being highly competent. Unless youre super neat with cable management, its unlikely youll build something that looks this sleek. Just remember to add one of the best gaming monitors and youre all set.This HP Omen 35L ordinarily costs $1,400. Today, its enjoying a hefty discount at HP bringing it down to $950. That means a saving of $450, which is perfect for investing in a great monitor and more. Its all thanks to companies clearing excess stock ahead of new graphics cards from Nvidia, but this one is still worth checking out now. If that sounds good to you, buy it quickly before the deal expires soon.Editors Recommendations

The European Commission is planning to go much further than before in reducing red tape for businesses, as part of a sweeping policy proposal to revive the blocs economy.

Selected by Scott Turow, the author, most recently, of Presumed Guilty.

not cool subaru Millions of Subarus could be remotely unlocked, tracked due to security flaws Flaws also allowed access to one year of location history. Andy Greenberg, wired.com Jan 24, 2025 9:28 am | 0 Credit: Jonathan Gitlin Credit: Jonathan Gitlin Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAbout a year ago, security researcher Sam Curry bought his mother a Subaru, on the condition that, at some point in the near future, she let him hack it.It took Curry until last November, when he was home for Thanksgiving, to begin examining the 2023 Impreza's Internet-connected features and start looking for ways to exploit them. Sure enough, he and a researcher working with him online, Shubham Shah, soon discovered vulnerabilities in a Subaru web portal that let them hijack the ability to unlock the car, honk its horn, and start its ignition, reassigning control of those features to any phone or computer they chose.Most disturbing for Curry, though, was that they found they could also track the Subaru's locationnot merely where it was at the moment but also where it had been for the entire year that his mother had owned it. The map of the cars whereabouts was so accurate and detailed, Curry says, that he was able to see her doctor visits, the homes of the friends she visited, even which exact parking space his mother parked in every time she went to church. A year of location data for Sam Currys mothers 2023 Subaru Impreza that Curry and Shah were able to access in Subarus employee admin portal thanks to its security vulnerabilities. Credit: Sam Curry A year of location data for Sam Currys mothers 2023 Subaru Impreza that Curry and Shah were able to access in Subarus employee admin portal thanks to its security vulnerabilities. Credit: Sam Curry You can retrieve at least a year's worth of location history for the car, where it's pinged precisely, sometimes multiple times a day, Curry says. Whether somebody's cheating on their wife or getting an abortion or part of some political group, there are a million scenarios where you could weaponize this against someone.Curry and Shah today revealed in a blog post their method for hacking and tracking millions of Subarus, which they believe would have allowed hackers to target any of the company's vehicles equipped with its digital features known as Starlink in the US, Canada, or Japan. Vulnerabilities they found in a Subaru website intended for the company's staff allowed them to hijack an employee's account to both reassign control of cars Starlink features and also access all the vehicle location data available to employees, including the cars location every time its engine started, as shown in their video below.Curry and Shah reported their findings to Subaru in late November, and Subaru quickly patched its Starlink security flaws. But the researchers warn that the Subaru web vulnerabilities are just the latest in a long series of similar web-based flaws they and other security researchers working with them have found that have affected well over a dozen carmakers, including Acura, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Toyota, and many others. Theres little doubt, they say, that similarly serious hackable bugs exist in other auto companies' web tools that have yet to be discovered.In Subaru's case, in particular, they also point out that their discovery hints at how pervasively those with access to Subaru's portal can track its customers' movements, a privacy issue that will last far longer than the web vulnerabilities that exposed it. The thing is, even though this is patched, this functionality is still going to exist for Subaru employees, Curry says. It's just normal functionality that an employee can pull up a year's worth of your location history.When WIRED reached out to Subaru for comment on Curry and Shah's findings, a spokesperson responded in a statement that after being notified by independent security researchers, [Subaru] discovered a vulnerability in its Starlink service that could potentially allow a third party to access Starlink accounts. The vulnerability was immediately closed and no customer information was ever accessed without authorization.The Subaru spokesperson also confirmed to WIRED that there are employees at Subaru of America, based on their job relevancy, who can access location data." The company offered as an example that employees have that access to share a vehicle's location with first responders in the case when a collision is detected. All these individuals receive proper training and are required to sign appropriate privacy, security, and NDA agreements as needed, Subaru's statement added. These systems have security monitoring solutions in place which are continually evolving to meet modern cyber threats.Responding to Subaru's example of notifying first responders about a collision, Curry notes that would hardly require a year's worth of location history. The company didn't respond to WIRED asking how far back it keeps customers' location histories and makes them available to employees.Shah and Curry's research that led them to the discovery of Subaru's vulnerabilities began when they found that Curry's mother's Starlink app connected to the domain SubaruCS.com, which they realized was an administrative domain for employees. Scouring that site for security flaws, they found that they could reset employees' passwords simply by guessing their email address, which gave them the ability to take over any employee's account whose email they could find. The password reset functionality did ask for answers to two security questions, but they found that those answers were checked with code that ran locally in a user's browser, not on Subaru's server, allowing the safeguard to be easily bypassed. There were really multiple systemic failures that led to this, Shah says.The two researchers say they found the email address for a Subaru Starlink developer on LinkedIn, took over the employee's account, and immediately found that they could use that staffer's access to look up any Subaru owner by last name, zip code, email address, phone number, or license plate to access their Starlink configurations. In seconds, they could then reassign control of the Starlink features of that user's vehicle, including the ability to remotely unlock the car, honk its horn, start its ignition, or locate it, as shown in the video below.Those vulnerabilities alone, for drivers, present serious theft and safety risks. Curry and Shah point out that a hacker could have targeted a victim for stalking or theft, looked up someone's vehicle's location, then unlocked their car at any timethough a thief would have to somehow also use a separate technique to disable the car's immobilizer, the component that prevents it from being driven away without a key.Those car hacking and tracking techniques alone are far from unique. Last summer, Curry and another researcher, Neiko Rivera, demonstrated to WIREDthat they could pull off a similar trick with any of millions of vehicles sold by Kia. Over the prior two years, a larger group of researchers, of which Curry and Shah are a part, discovered web-based security vulnerabilities that affected cars sold by Acura, BMW, Ferrari, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Rolls Royce, and Toyota.More unusual in Subaru's case, Curry and Shah say, is that they were able to access fine-grained, historical location data for Subarus going back at least a year. Subaru may in fact collect multiple years of location data, but Curry and Shah tested their technique only on Curry's mother, who had owned her Subaru for about a year.Curry argues that Subaru's extensive location tracking is a particularly disturbing demonstration of the car industry's lack of privacy safeguards around its growing collection of personal data on drivers. It's kind of bonkers, he says. There's an expectation that a Google employee isn't going to be able to just go through your emails in Gmail, but there's literally a button on Subaru's admin panel that lets an employee view location history.The two researchers work contributes to a growing sense of concern over the enormous amount of location data that car companies collect. In December, information a whistleblower provided to the German hacker collective the Chaos Computer Computer and Der Spiegel revealed that Cariad, a software company that partners with Volkswagen, had left detailed location data for 800,000 electric vehicles publicly exposed online. Privacy researchers at the Mozilla Foundation in September warned in a report that modern cars are a privacy nightmare, noting that 92 percent give car owners little to no control over the data they collect, and 84 percent reserve the right to sell or share your information. (Subaru tells WIRED that it does not sell location data.)While we worried that our doorbells and watches that connect to the Internet might be spying on us, car brands quietly entered the data business by turning their vehicles into powerful data-gobbling machines, Mozilla's report reads.Curry and Shah's discovery of Subaru's security vulnerabilities in its tracking demonstrate a particularly egregious exposure of that databut also a privacy problem that's hardly less disturbing now that the vulnerabilities are patched, says Robert Herrell, the executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, which has sought to create legislation for limiting car's data tracking.It seems like there are a bunch of employees at Subaru that have a scary amount of detailed information, Herrell says. People are being tracked in ways that they have no idea are happening.This story originally appeared on wired.com.Andy Greenberg, wired.com Wired.com is your essential daily guide to what's next, delivering the most original and complete take you'll find anywhere on innovation's impact on technology, science, business and culture. 0 Comments

John Edwards, Technology Journalist & AuthorJanuary 24, 20255 Min ReadThomas Pajot via Alamy Stock VectorLike a tag that warns sweater owners not to wash their new purchase in hot water, a virtual label attached to AI content could alert viewers that what they're looking at or listening to has been created or altered by AI.While appending a virtual identification label to AI-generated content may seem like a simple, logical solution to a serious problem, many experts believe that the task is far more complex and challenging than currently believed.The answer isn't clear-cut, says Marina Cozac, an assistant professor of marketing and business law at Villanova University's School of Business. "Although labeling AI-generated content ... seems like a logical approach, and experts often advocate for it, findings in the emerging literature on information-related labels are mixed," she states in an email interview. Cozac adds that there's a long history of using warning labels on products, such as cigarettes, to inform consumers about risks. "Labels can be effective in some cases, but they're not always successful, and many unanswered questions remain about their impact."For generic AI-generated text, a warning label isn't necessary, since it usually serves functional purposes and doesn't pose a novel risk of deception, says Iavor Bojinov, a professor at the Harvard Business School, via an online interview. "However, hyper-realistic images and videos should include a message stating they were generated or edited by AI." He believes that transparency is crucial to avoid confusion or potential misuse, especially when the content closely resembles reality.Related:Real or Fake?The purpose of a warning label on AI-generated content is to alert users that the information may not be authentic or reliable, Cozac says. "This can encourage users to critically evaluate the content and increase skepticism before accepting it as true, thereby reducing the likelihood of spreading potential misinformation." The goal, she adds, should be to help mitigate the risks associated with AI-generated content and misinformation by disrupting automatic believability and the sharing of potentially false information.The rise of deepfakes and other AI-generated media has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between what's real and what's synthetic, which can erode trust, spread misinformation, and have harmful consequences for individuals and society, says Philip Moyer, CEO of video hosting firm Vimeo. "By labeling AI-generated content and disclosing the provenance of that content, we can help combat the spread of misinformation and work to maintain trust and transparency," he observes via email.Related:Moyer adds that labeling will also support content creators. "It will help them to maintain not only their creative abilities as well as their individual rights as a creator, but also their audience's trust, distinguishing their techniques from the content made with AI versus an original development."Bojinov believes that besides providing transparency and trust, labels will provide a unique seal of approval. "On the flip side, I think the 'human-made' label will help drive a premium in writing and art in the same way that craft furniture or watches will say 'hand-made'."Advisory or Mandatory?"A label should be mandatory if the content portrays a real person saying or doing something they did not say or do originally, alters footage of a real event or location, or creates a lifelike scene that did not take place," Moyer says. "However, the label wouldn't be required for content that's clearly unrealistic, animated, includes obvious special effects, or uses AI for only minor production assistance."Consumers need access to tools that don't depend on scammers doing the right thing, to help them identify whats real versus artificially generated, says Abhishek Karnik, director of threat research and response at security technology firm McAfee, via email. "Scammers may never abide by policy, but if most big players help implement and enforce such mechanisms it will help to build consumer awareness."Related:The format of labels indicating AI-generated content should be noticeable without being disruptive and may differ based on the content or platform on which the labeled content appears, Karnik says. "Beyond disclaimers, watermarks and metadata can provide alternatives for verifying AI-generated content," he notes. "Additionally, building tamper-proof solutions and long-term policies for enabling authentication, integrity, and nonrepudiation will be key."Final ThoughtsThere are significant opportunities for future research on AI-generated content labels, Cozac says. She points out that recent research highlights the fact that while some progress has been made, more work remains to be done to understand how different label designs, contexts, and other characteristics affect their effectiveness. "This makes it an exciting and timely topic, with plenty of room for future research and new insights to help refine strategies for combating AI-generated content and misinformation."About the AuthorJohn EdwardsTechnology Journalist & AuthorJohn Edwards is a veteran business technology journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous business and technology publications, including Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic Design. He has also written columns for The Economist's Business Intelligence Unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Communications Direct. John has authored several books on business technology topics. His work began appearing online as early as 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he wrote daily news and feature articles for both the CompuServe and Prodigy online services. His "Behind the Screens" commentaries made him the world's first known professional blogger.See more from John EdwardsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Claudia Winkleman, host of The TraitorsBBC / Studio LambertHoods up, torches lit, knives sharpened: viewers across the UK are ready for another delicious finale of The Traitors this evening, the TV game show where contestants try to uncloak the ruthless (not strictly real) murderers who walk among them.For psychologists professional and armchair alike The Traitors is a goldmine of devious human behaviour to pick apart and analyse. And it isnt just psychology. Game theory, human evolution and criminology are just some of the scientific fields that offer clues about the shows Machiavellian dynamics.We surveyed experts in treachery (academically speaking) to find out what it truly takes to win The Traitors. Warning: spoilers ahead if you arent up to date with the show.AdvertisementWatch out for conformity biasHaving a strong characteristic seems to be something that other people notice as being influential and potentially threatening, says forensic psychologist Clea Wright, who hosts a podcast about The Traitors with colleagues from the University of Chester, UK. She singles out contestants like Yin (too intelligent), Elen (too emotional) and Armani (too confident).Their downfalls are likely to have been linked to conformity bias, the trait in humans that makes most of us conform to social norms. Individuals who dont conform may be disliked or distrusted.This isnt the place for altruismEmily Emmott, an evolutionary anthropologist at University College London, says players should keep in mind that in evolutionary literature, altruism doesnt really exist.Remember, its not a cooperation game, she says. Its a game of deception, a survival game. You need to be there at the end to win. Thats a mistake some players make because theyre too trusting of the people theyre close to.Emmott says that we evolved to help ourselves ahead of others, so any altruistic behaviour seen on the show has a selfish benefit behind it. And such apparent altruism isnt a bad tactic, whether youre a faithful or a traitor.In the game context, being cooperative serves as a signal of trustworthiness. A good example might be overtly not going for the shield [which protects you from the next murder] during the shows tasks.But heres where Machiavellian intelligence comes in because everyone knows the rules of the game, a good player wont take altruistic behaviour at face value. In this game, its not an honest signal because there could be ulterior motives to you cooperating, says Emmott.So watch out for the nice guys. An analysis of thousands of messages between players in Diplomacy, a game that shares similarities with The Traitors, found that players who were excessively polite were more likely to betray others.Beware of in-group biasWe know from social psychology that when people form social groups, they have whats called an in-group bias, and this can be really accelerated in The Traitors, says Wright. [Contestants] display preferential behaviour to people who are in that group with them. This is why it all went wrong for Minah after recruiting Charlotte as a traitor.Charlotte is recruited as a traitor by MinahBBC / Studio LambertFor Minah, who always recruited female traitors, her group was the so-called sisterhood she created. She very much identified it as a sisterhood, she used the word a lot, says Wright. The problem was, Charlotte already had a strong group identity with the faithfuls. So when she was recruited, kind of against her will, she didnt have any allegiance to the new group.And what happened? Charlotte double-crossed Minah immediately, and Minah was voted out on the next night.Wright says the same in-group bias can lead to a herd mentality when players are voting, and an illogical trust in people within the game.What makes a good liar?Nervous or incoherent answers to questions are generally regarded with suspicion, even if someone is telling the truth. Thats because those behaviours are tied to stereotypes about what people think liars do. A better giveaway is people who always say the same thing, says Emma Barrett, a psychologist and criminologist at the University of Manchester, UK.One thing to look out for is someone who always tells the same story in exactly the same way and doesnt really elaborate when they retell it, she says. A story might sound plausible, but when we repeat it we usually add details as we remember them. People sometimes mistake consistency for honesty. But thats not how recall works in genuine memories.Think like a scientistA mark of a good detective is a high tolerance of ambiguity. They wont come to a conclusion quickly, says Barrett. Its similar to thinking like a scientist: You might have a plausible hypothesis about something. Then youll ask yourself about the assumptions youre making and the gaps in your understanding. You have to actively look for evidence that disconfirms the hypothesis youre generating.Hunting for traitors in the early days of The Traitors third seasonBBC / Studio LambertFaithfuls arent very good at that on The Traitors, but another tactic they could use is to encourage a suspected traitor to talk more than theyd like to. Its about giving them enough rope to hang themselves with, says Barrett.If youre a faithful, a good strategy to detect a traitor is to subtly encourage them to talk, she says. For instance, if you were a police officer and you wanted to know if someone had given you a false address, one question you might ask is, Oh, how do you get there, whats your nearest station?'If in doubt, try game theory? An uninformed majority will always lose to a fully informed minority. It was on this basis that Russian psychologist Dimitry Davidoff created Mafia the parlour game on which The Traitors is based in the 1980s. Since then, Mafia has been used as the basis of many game theory experiments and models.The good news is that Davidoff wasnt quite right. He believed that the faithfuls probability of outing the bad guys is no better than chance. But many of the studies that model the game find that the chances of victory are roughly equal and even tipped in favour of the faithful in live games, possibly because of the weight of the lies that traitors have to tell.In other words, forget cold mathematics. If you really want to win The Traitors, you simply have to be more devious than everyone else.Topics:

A charging station for electric vehicles in Cornwall, UKMatt Cardy/Getty ImagesElectric vehicles (EVs) now last as long as petrol and diesel alternatives and their improving reliability outpaces fossil fuel-powered cars each year because the technology is still maturing.Robert Elliott at the University of Birmingham, UK, and his colleagues analysed nearly 300 million records from the UKs compulsory roadworthiness test, called the MOT, which show the condition, age and mileage of every vehicle on the road between 2005 and 2022. This covered some 29.8 million vehicles in total. AdvertisementThe results showed that EVs now have an average lifespan of more than 18.4 years, outlasting the average diesel vehicle at 16.8 years and almost matching the average petrol vehicle at 18.7 years. The average EV now covers 200,000 kilometres during its life, surpassing the 187,000 km clocked up by petrol counterparts but falling short of the 257,000 km that diesels reach on average.Elliott says the results prove that electric cars arent only a viable alternative to petrol and diesel, but in some ways already beat them. The research also shows that long-term reliability is improving: the likelihood of an EV failing and ending up on the scrapheap in any given year is declining around twice as fast as it is for petrol vehicles and around six times as fast as for diesels.The early electric cars were not so good and they were not so reliable, says Elliott. But the main point, I think, is the technology is improving very rapidly. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month.Sign up to newsletterWere not environmental crusaders. We just want to give the facts. Electric cars and the batteries, theyre just living longer, and the technology is improving, and it would have improved again since this study, he says.Although the MOT data doesnt include information about how much maintenance and repair vehicles require between tests, only their overall lifespan, other research from the US has shown that maintenance costs for electric cars are around $0.06 per mile, while for internal combustion engines the figure is $0.10 per mile.Rachel Aldred at the University of Westminster, UK, says moving away from petrol and diesel vehicles will bring benefits in combating climate change and air pollution, but she stresses that EVs are no silver bullet.Its still a very inefficient and limited solution, says Aldred. If most people are using a private motor vehicle to get around, then theres a whole load of negatives around lack of physical activity, around road injuries and [residual] pollution as well even though obviously its a lot better [than petrol or diesel vehicles]. Walking, or its equivalent, cycling and public transport should be the priority for people who can use those modes for trips, she says.Journal reference:Nature Energy DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01698-1Topics:

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. OpenAI launches Operatoran agent that can use a computer for you Whats new: After weeks of buzz, OpenAI has released Operator, its first AI agent. Operator is a web app that can carry out simple online tasks in a browser, such as booking concert tickets or filling an online grocery order. The app is powered by a new model called Computer-Using AgentCUA for shortbuilt on top of OpenAIs multimodal large language model GPT-4o.Why it matters: OpenAI claims that Operator outperforms similar rival tools, including Anthropics Computer Use and Google DeepMinds Mariner. The fact that three of the worlds top AI firms have converged on the same vision of what agent-based models could be makes one thing clear. The battle for AI supremacy has a new frontierand its our computer screens. Read the full story. Will Douglas Heaven + If youre interested in reading more about AI agents, check out this piece explaining why theyre AIs next big thing. Whats next for robots James ODonnell In the many conversations Ive had about robots, Ive also found that most people tend to fall into three camps. Some are upbeat and vocally hopeful that a future is just around the corner in which machines can expertly handle much of what is currently done by humans, from cooking to surgery. Others are scared: of job losses, injuries, and whatever problems may come up as we try to live side by side. The final camp, which I think is the largest, is just unimpressed. Weve been sold lots of promises that robots will transform society ever since the first robotic arm was installed on an assembly line at a General Motors plant in New Jersey in 1961. Few of those promises have panned out so far.But this year, theres reason to think that even those staunchly in the bored camp will be intrigued by whats happening in the robot races. Heres a glimpse at what to keep an eye on this year. Read the full story. This piece is part of MIT Technology Reviews Whats Next series, looking across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Facebook and Instagram blocked and hid abortion pill posts But Meta denies its anything to do with its recent hate speech restriction U-turn. (NYT $)+ The companys widespread changes are making advertisers nervous. (Insider $)+ A contraceptive drug could act as an abortion pill substitute. (The Atlantic $)2 Donald Trumps staff are furious with Elon Musk His decision to trash talk the Presidents new AI deal is ruffling aides feathers. (Politico)+ For once, Trump doesnt seem to want to wade in. (CNN)+ Stargates newest data center will be built in the small Texan city of Abilene. (Bloomberg $)3 Watch the Trump administration delete agency pages in real timeAn agency GitHub records the documents, handbooks and bots as theyre deleted or amended. (404 Media) 4 Central Europes power grid is vulnerable to attack Its facilities unencrypted radio signals leave it wide open to malicious interference. (Ars Technica)+ The race to replace the powerful greenhouse gas that underpins the power grid. (MIT Technology Review) 5 OpenAIs conversion to becoming a for-profit is under investigation Californias attorney general wants to know more about its asset transfer plans. (The Markup)+ One major obstacle is determining how much equity Microsoft would hold. (FT $)6 WeRide has its sights set on becoming a driverless power playerThe Chinese company has ambitious plans to expand all over the world. (WSJ $) + Meanwhile, Tesla is issuing a safety update to 1.2 million cars in China. (Bloomberg $)+ How Wayves driverless cars will meet one of their biggest challenges yet. (MIT Technology Review)7 How fungi spores can help save endangered plantsBut its a delicate balancing act. (Knowable Magazine) + Africa fights rising hunger by looking to foods of the past. (MIT Technology Review)8 The fight over our tech-addled attention spanIts not that we cant focusits what were focusing on. (New Yorker $) 9 TikTok is still MIA from US app stores Opportunists are flogging iPhones with the pre-installed app for eye-watering prices. (Insider $)10 How random is Spotifys shuffle, really? And can algorithms be depended on to deal in true randomness? (FT $)Quote of the day I cant imagine that I personally can make any difference in their wealth, power or influence. But I cant be a part of offering them my life and my joy to then turn it back around and make money off of me. Michael Raine, a 50-year old Facebook and Instagram user, explains to the Washington Post why he doesnt want to contribute to the sprawling wealth of Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg any more. The big story How to stop a state from sinking April 2024 In a 10-month span between 2020 and 2021, southwest Louisiana saw five climate-related disasters, including two destructive hurricanes. As if that wasnt bad enough, more storms are coming, and many areas are not prepared. But some government officials and state engineers are hoping there is an alternative: elevation. The $6.8 billion Southwest Coastal Louisiana Project is betting that raising residences by a few feet will keep Louisianans in their communities. Ultimately, its something of a last-ditch effort to preserve this slice of coastline, even as some locals pick up and move inland and as formal plans for managed retreat become more popular in climate-vulnerable areas across the country and the rest of the world. Read the full story. Xander Peters We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + How two enterprising actors staged a daring performance of Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto + Warning: these movies are dangerous!+ Madonna released Material Girl 40 years ago this weekand changed the face of pop forever.+ And finally, what everyone has been dying to knowdo dogs really watch TV?