US plans livestream of execution by firing squad
The United States' execution of the Fort Hood shooter will be livestreamed, anonymous officials from the Defense Department told the BBC and Associated Press. The planned execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army major convicted of killing 13 people at the Texas military base, was announced this week. He is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3rd at 2PM ET.
The Verge contacted YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Meta, Rumble, and Kick to ask if they plan to allow the livestream to be aired on their platforms. None responded before publication.
"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need …
Anthropic launches free AI security scans for open-source projects
Anthropic's offering to help open-source projects track down security vulnerabilities with a new service called OSS Scanner. It says open-source projects that opt-in will get "thorough, periodic security scans by our strongest models at no cost." That could mean open-source projects get alerted about possible security issues sooner, but the trade-off is that OSS Scanner's reports don't come with human review:
The outputs of this opt-in vulnerability scanner will be fully model-generated, without human review or triage. This will enable faster and more frequent scanning, but means that it is possible reports will be incorrect or invalid. Th …
SpaceX announces plan to become a ‘major mobile carrier’
SpaceX has acquired a portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses - a move the company says "will pave the way" for its Starlink Mobile service to become a "major" US carrier. When the Federal Communications Commission signs off on the deal, SpaceX says it will deploy its new architecture that combines its satellite-to-mobile constellation with a terrestrial mobile network, directly competing with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.
The licenses include up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, which SpaceX says will allow Starlink Mobile's signal to penetrate through walls and buildings. SpaceX previously acquired 2GHz spectrum from …
AMD will bring FSR 4 to handhelds by the end of 2026
It's already possible to get AMD's framerate-enhancing FSR 4 boost on handhelds as old as the Steam Deck - but in June, AMD reserved the right to disappoint handheld gamers by not officially bringing FSR 4 to older handhelds. Now, AMD consumer chip boss Jack Huynh says he will bring the tech to some handhelds by the end of the year.
Which handhelds? It's still not clear if it will come to existing handhelds, or if you'll need a new one to get it - because it comes alongside news that AMD is releasing a new FSR4-capable chip.
"We will expand the machine learning AI-based FSR4 technology, which was first introduced to existing external graph …
Apple will reportedly debut its first touchscreen MacBook in three weeks
Apple is set to introduce a new MacBook Pro with a touchscreen and an updated iPad Mini "on or around" October 27th, Bloomberg reports. If true, that would put the event just two weeks after the October 13th event Apple announced today, which is rumored to focus on smart home products.
Bloomberg says that the late October event will include an "online video presentation" and an "in-person component for the press," which it reports is similar to what Apple is planning for the October 13th event.
At this Mac and iPad event, Bloomberg reports that Apple will announce new MacBook Pros that are lighter than what's available now, have touchscree …
California is trying to shut down robot vs. human cage matches
The California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to a startup that hosted a match between a human and a robot last month, as reported by The New York Times.
The fight, which took place on September 18th, pitted a human, Frankie LaPenna, against a humanoid robot owned by a tech startup, Rek, that was being piloted by a human using what the NYT described as a "remote virtual-reality system." Rek says it is the "the humanoid robot fighting league" on its website, and the robot appears to be one from EngineAI but with a Terminator-like head swapped on top.
You can watch a replay of the fight on YouTube:
The CEO of Rek …
ICE detainees in Georgia used the facility’s video calling software to expose the conditions inside
Four men detained at an ICE detention center in rural Georgia used the facility's video conferencing software to expose both the conditions inside and President Donald Trump's hostile takeover of the immigration courts. In the five-minute video, the men describe an intentionally dysfunctional legal system designed to keep them trapped in federal custody for months or years - in privately owned facilities that profit from their confinement.
The video cost the men, literally and figuratively. The Folkston ICE Processing Center has a work program for detainees in which they are paid a pittance to cook, do laundry, or clean. These wages allow t …
Microsoft’s new Windows Search is exactly what Windows 11 needs
Windows Search has been one of the most frustrating parts of Windows 11, and now Microsoft is addressing this with a significant overhaul. A new redesigned Windows Search is now in testing that is much faster, more capable, and a lot more modern.
"This new Windows Search experience is built for speed," says Anshul Rawat, corporate vice president of the Windows product team at Microsoft. "It's built on WinUI 3 and is part of our broader investment in modernizing our core Windows experiences."
Microsoft says early testing of this new search has shown "substantial improvements in performance and memory usage," meaning the company isn't adding …
Paramount is making a Cyberpunk 2077 film
Cyberpunk 2077 is heading to the big screen. Deadline reports that CD Projekt Red's popular sci-fi video game franchise is being adapted into a live-action film by Paramount Pictures. There's no details just yet on when the film might premiere. But Deadline says that Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who is known for producing the Transformers films, will be a producer on the movie.
"We're excited about Paramount as a future partner who shares our creative ambitions for the Cyberpunk franchise," says CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski. "We look forward to sharing more details at the appropriate time."
Despite its rocky 2020 launch, Cyberpunk …
Tim Cook says ‘I’m not meddling’ in the new Apple CEO’s business
Tim Cook stepped down as Apple CEO in September, handing over the top job to former hardware chief John Ternus and taking an executive chairman role. Cook's still a visible representative of the company, having been recently photographed attending a state dinner at the White House. But in an interview with The Independent, Cook says he's "not meddling" in Ternus' work.
"First of all, John and I have an incredible level of trust in each other," Cook said. "The relationship must be based on trust, and the communication must be frequent and significant. But other than that, what I'm focused on right now is worldwide policy. And the interface w …