Free Republic

Tough luck, Zuck! Mark Zuckerberg tumbled from third to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after Meta’ stock plunged 11% on Thursday — wiping out $29.2 billion from his fortune in just one day. The 41-year-old CEO’s net worth fell to $235.2 billion, his lowest ranking in nearly two years, as investors recoiled from Meta’s plan to issue $30 billion in new debt to fund artificial intelligence spending, according to Bloomberg. The drop was the fourth-largest one-day market-driven loss ever recorded by Bloomberg’s wealth index. Zuckerberg reportedly refused to clap Wednesday after singer Billie Eilish said at the Wall...

MTV reportedly pulled the plug on their hit show “Ridiculousness” after fourteen years on air. Sources familiar told TMZ that the move to cut one of the longest-running series in the network’s history was conveyed to the cast and crew this week. Rob Dyrdek, Steelo Brim and their associates were told this season will be the final one, according to the outlet. The network’s executives reportedly made the shocking announcement directly. “Ridiculousness” paused production in July and was slated to return in January. Already produced first-run episodes will still be broadcasted by MTV through 2026, but the network will not...

@MJTruthUltra Crazy times… Elon Musk says eventually “Working will be Optional”, and everyone will be given a Universal High-Income - Jobs, where there is no physical work involved, will be eliminated first. - working will be optional because of robots and AI

The AWS crash was a warning shot: our hyperconnected world runs on fragile code, overworked defenders, and blind trust—and one real cyberattack could bring it all down. We are just concluding Cybersecurity Awareness Month, though this year’s reminder felt more like a warning flare than a celebration. The message is clear, however. Our digital infrastructure is hanging by a thread, and we just got a glimpse of how thin that thread really is.Just weeks ago, the world’s largest cloud provider, Amazon Web Services, suffered a massive outage that paralyzed everything from retail transactions to smart-home devices. The failure was traced...

The FBI has reported that an active-duty U.S. Marine has been arrested after allegedly kidnapping a 12-year-old girl from Indiana. According to the FBI’s press release, William Roy, 24, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, flew to Chicago to meet up with a 12-year-old girl at a park. Later, Roy allegedly took the young girl to a hotel where they stayed overnight. He faces charges of enticing and transporting a minor to travel for illicit sexual activity and interstate travel with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor.

While many of the largest tech companies race to build massive data centers for their artificial intelligence ambitions, Apple is taking a more modest approach. In its fiscal 2025, which ended in September, Apple spent $12.72 billion on capital expenditures. Compared to Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, Apple’s barely spending at all. Apple’s different approach to AI hasn’t hurt its hardware sales yet. CEO Tim Cook told CNBC Thursday that consumer response to the company’s iPhone 17 models was “off the chart.” While many of the largest tech companies race to build massive data centers for their artificial intelligence...

Following Sweeney’s appearance, many took to social media to question why the actress was being featured ahead of the game. “Why is Sydney Sweeney narrating the World Series game 4 intro,” one person asked as another one wondered, “sydney sweeney ad for the world series? who invited you.” “Why tf is Sydney Sweeney doing the World Series intro? That was a creepy a$$ tone of voice too,” a third netizen shared via X.

Well, I didn't know that this was a thing. A United Airlines flight had to make a U-turn on a transatlantic flight because someone dropped their laptop. You'd think simply dropping your computer wouldn't create an air travel incident. But the fact that this passenger just so happened to drop the computer through a crack and into the cargo hold could have resulted in a midair disaster. Here's Business Insider: An audio recording published by LiveATC.net and uploaded to YouTube appears to show the reason for the diversion. 'We have a minor situation here with a passenger who has somehow...

Dictionary.com has named "67" (pronounced sik-sehh-vin) as the 2025 Word of the Year. Not joking. https://t.co/UXHZisA5Bw names ‘67’ as the 2025 Word of the Year. pic.twitter.com/VxpXjmeRFu— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 29, 2025A number has been named Word of the Year -- and it's not even allowed to be pronounced "sixty-seven." the alphabet finding out that a number won “word of the year” pic.twitter.com/ugfatdn70j https://t.co/KRKXt9cuok— wiLL (@willfulchaos) October 29, 2025You're supposed to do this when you say "67": I gotta send it over to Dictionary.com for an explanation for why they chose 67. But what does 67 mean? Perhaps the most...

The design is modeled on the Prisoner’s Dilemma, a classic game theory scenario involving two players who independently choose between cooperation and defection.obe University researchers have unveiled an interactive web application that transforms the abstract concepts of quantum game theory into a tangible, musical experience, drawing parallels with the “emergent dialogue” in jazz and improvisational music. This development is the world’s first browser-based interactive music system built on quantum game theory, and it offers users real-time visual and auditory feedback on how their strategic decisions intertwine. The project, led by quantum engineer Souma Satofumi, aims to bridge a significant...

Editor’s Note: For the record, I’m among the EXTREMELY skeptical when it comes to automation of anything that can kill people. Big rigs qualify. Call me a Boomer if you’d like but I prefer drivers to be human… as long as they speak and read in English and are U.S. citizens. With that said, the data on AI trucks is at least a little compelling… ============================================================== Artificial intelligence has officially taken the wheel—literally. A recent large-scale safety showdown between AI-driven trucking systems and top-rated human drivers has revealed something few expected: the machines won. According to results released this week,...

The containerized demonstrator has already been successfully tested several times. The weapon could also be equipped with greater capabilities and be used to destroy supersonic guided missiles. Rheinmetall/Wikimedia Commons ==================================================================== Ademonstrator laser weapon, which can fry enemy drones, has been delivered to Germany. The weapon is expected to be deployed for operational use starting in 2029. Developed by Rheinmetall and MBDA, the laser weapon could serve as a powerful and cost-effective addition to conventional guided missiles. The weapon’s effectiveness and precision have been proven under real operational conditions in over 100 firing tests. High-energy laser weapon system for maritime use...

The space environment would provide natural radiative cooling, as well as unlimited solar energy. With the generative AI boom in full force, scientists have warned of the immense power requirements of data centers used to train and utilize these systems. Now, a team of researchers from NTU Singapore has joined the call to place data centers in space. Doing so would pave the way for sustainable computing, the claim. According to the team, space data centers would be powered by round-the-clock solar energy and would harness free cooling. Crucially, all of this is possible using existing technologies. Sending AI infrastructure...

A misconfiguration at Microsoft Azure caused massive, widespread outages today starting around noon ET. https://azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status for details. https://downdetector.com/ was on fire. It's getting better.

FortNine explores how a search engine generates revenue, using the example of bicycle parts. The video examines the PageRank algorithm and its evolution into targeted advertising. This investigation reveals a surprising method for attributing sales, raising questions about the true impact of online marketing.

Like you, I see those flashy headlines and articles every day trying to convince Windows users to switch to Linux—how it’s supposedly better in every possible way, how you can use all your favorite apps, and so on. But honestly, most of that is just talk. It sounds great on paper, but it doesn’t match up with reality. Still, I guess those kinds of articles do their job pretty well.Here, though, I want to take a slightly different approach. Right from the start, let me be clear: I’m not here to persuade anyone to jump on the Linux bandwagon. Instead,...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company will build seven supercomputers for the Department of Energy with up to 100,000 chips all made in America. Huang said, “The first thing that President Trump asked me is, ‘bring manufacturing back.'” The New York Post reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made several significant announcements during the keynote address at the company’s GTC event in Washington, DC, highlighting the company’s ongoing success and its commitment to advancing e AI technology. The event, held for the first time in the US capital, signifies Nvidia’s pursuit of work with the government and contractors...

A recent firmware update on my LG television revealed that the TV is taking audio samples of all content that is played through it. Other TVs are now taking audio and video samples and sending them off for analysis. Your Smart TV's HDMI Port Is Spying On You! | 23:43 Lon.TV | 389K subscribers | 62,195 views | October 27, 2025 VIDEO INDEX: 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Supporter Thank Yous 01:26 - ACR / Automatic Content Recognition 02:10 - LG Televisions 04:03 - Samsung TVs 04:57 - Amazon Fire TV Sets 06:33 - Roku TVs 09:04 - Google TVs...

Take this with a grain of salt, but users have reported another privacy transgression by Microsoft. According to the report by users from the Resetera forum and elsewhere, Copilot Gaming, an AI specially for gaming-related AI tasks, is taking screen captures of your gameplay for training. While that would be fine if the user knew about it and enabled it willingly, it appears to be turned on automatically and without informing users about the data collecting and use of the data. According to the user who noticed it first by monitoring network traffic, the AI is using OCR technology to...

Climate deniers use scientific aesthetics to reinforce and legitimize their message. At the same time, their main opponents, the climate activists, are portrayed as emotional and irrational. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Amsterdam, who have studied how climate deniers communicate online. "Disinformation is not just about incorrect facts, but about how these facts look and feel. In today's digital media landscape, messages are spread through images, memes and visual narratives that influence us in an instant, before we even have time to think. By understanding the aesthetic logic behind climate denial, we can...