The holiday season is swiftly approaching and it’s officially the time of year to ask: What presents am I going to get everyone? Thankfully, there are a ton of early Black Friday deals for the tech lover in your life.

Take the 39 percent discount currently available on the 8Bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller and Charging Dock. It’s a great option for the gamer in your life, and a steal down from $70 to $43 — a new all-time low price. The controller comes with perks such as the charging dock, 22 hours of battery per charge and compatibility with everything from Steam Deck to Switch. The deal is only for the white model. 

Earlier this year, 8Bitdo released a new version of this $70 controller, aptly called the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth. We rated it as one of the best controllers for the Nintendo Switch 2. While the upgraded model brings you features like more precise and sensitive joysticks, this sale brings the original Ultimate Controller back into view — and our shopping carts. Plus, it also works well with the Nintendo Switch 2. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/8bitdos-ultimate-controller-drops-to-a-record-low-price-in-early-black-friday-sales-133023804.html?src=rss

Planning out what you’re going to do is huge for productivity, which is why SMART goals (and their alternatives) are so popular throughout the working world. Another important—but perhaps more overlooked—element of the productivity process is the assessment, however.

Reviewing what you did is just as integral as planning how you’ll do it—in reviewing, you get a chance to plan better (and improve!) for next time, while also carving out space to appreciate what you did well—also a major motivator!

What is an after-action review? 

An after-action review, or AAR, is a way to measure the results of your performance and improve on your processes. It was first introduced by the U.S. Army to give units feedback after they had collective training exercises. The Army has actually released a ton of literature on it, but all you need to know is that when carried out right, it’s standardized, done the same way every time, and useful for building a framework that can enhance future labor. 

If you do end up diving into that mountain of literature on the AAR, you’ll notice that it was designed for units or teams and is typically conducted by a facilitator who encourages members to discuss each part of the effort with the group. But it can be useful for individuals, too, since the process of completing an AAR is standardized and easy to follow. Build time into your schedule to conduct your own personal AAR after completing a major project, whether at work or in your personal life. You can complete it at the end of every week, or once you’ve finished a specific project. Either way, you’ll want to keep notes of these reviews, whether in your planner or in a document you can add to a larger file about the project, like a single source of truth (SSOT).

You may feel silly “reviewing” work you just completed, but the arguments for it—and the potential benefits—are substantial. First, if you’re honest with yourself about what went wrong, you can figure out why the parts that didn’t work were inefficient or ineffective, then seek solutions. In identifying what went well, you can set plans to replicate your process in the future, and find a little motivation in a job well done.

An AAR (or something similar) is an integral part of many popular productivity techniques, including Getting Things Done and Agile Results. All the planning in the world doesn’t matter if you never reflect on how it all went so you can improve next time around.

What you should put into your after-action review

This is where we get into the rigid, structured process of the Army. There are four questions you’ll ask yourself when conducting your AAR and they’ll always be the same: 

1. What did I intend to accomplish?

2. What did I do?

3. Why did it happen the way it did?

4. What will I do to change my strategy or execution for a better outcome next time OR how can I duplicate my success?

Essentially, consider what you wanted to get done, what you actually got done, what impacted the outcome, and what you can take away for future attempts. Even running over this checklist in your head is a good practice, but writing it down is best, so you can refer back to it next time you’re in the planning stages on a new project. 

For instance, say you want to clean your kitchen. That’s the answer to the first question. What you really did, whether it was clean the kitchen, avoid the task, or only give it a half-effort, is the answer to the second. The third question is where you get introspective: If you did clean the kitchen, was it because you had company coming over and felt a sense of urgency, aligning your productivity with the Yerkes-Dodson Law? Or maybe it was because you needed to feel a sense of accomplishment after an otherwise unproductive week, but you were so burned out that you didn’t do a great job. If you didn’t clean, was it because you felt overwhelmed? Did you get too busy? Did you lack the right tools for the job? Once you’ve established your reasons, you can build them into the answer to the fourth question, writing something like, “I will clean my kitchen weekly to make sure I’m always ready for unexpected company,” “I will follow a regimented cleaning method to avoid feeling overwhelmed,” or, “I will invest in better cleaning tools to make the next attempt go smoother.” 

When cleaning time rolls around again, you’ll pre-plan your actions as normal, scheduling out time for the activity and setting goals. Refer back to your AAR to refresh your memory on what went right and what went wrong the last time you tried to do the task. Eventually, you’ll smooth out the issues that are preventing you from being most efficient and get more results. 

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If you’ve been looking to replace an aging desktop without spending a small fortune, this refurbished 2023 model HP Slim Desktop might be worth considering. It’s on sale for $189.99 on StackSocial, and while that price suggests bare-bones, it’s more suited for everyday computing than you might expect. Since it’s a refurbished “Grade A” model, it should arrive looking nearly new, with minimal signs of previous use. Plus, the one-year parts-and-labor warranty from a third party adds some reassurance.

The HP Slim lives up to its name. At approximately 8 by 17 inches, it fits neatly on a small desk or shelf without occupying much space. The design looks clean and professional, blending easily into a home or office setup. You also get practical connectivity options, including HDMI and VGA ports for monitors, USB 2.0 and SuperSpeed ports for accessories, and a headphone/microphone combo jack. It runs Windows 11 Home, so you’ll get the latest Microsoft interface and features without needing to upgrade. That said, the Intel Pentium Silver J5040 chip isn’t designed for gaming or heavy editing, but it handles daily tasks such as spreadsheets, streaming, and light photo editing smoothly. With 8GB of RAM, multitasking feels effortless, and the 256GB solid-state drive helps the system boot up quickly, making a significant difference if you’re accustomed to older desktops that take forever to start up.

At $189.99, this desktop is a practical choice for anyone who needs a simple computer for browsing, streaming, schoolwork, or office tasks. It’s not built for gaming or creative projects, but it’s steady and efficient for daily use. If you’re looking for a compact, quiet, and easy-to-manage desktop without paying premium prices, the HP Slim Desktop makes a strong case for itself.

Samsung has rolled out an update for its SmartThings app on the iPhone, and it will give you the ability to activate routines with Siri voice commands. Specifically, the update adds compatibility between SmartThings and Siri Shortcuts, which is an iOS feature you can use to automate multi-step tasks. You can simply drag and drop multiple actions from the apps that support the feature within the Shortcuts app to create an automation. But this update means you’ll be able to access even routines created in the SmartThings application.

As 9to5Mac reports, Samsung described the update as something that could bridge “the gap between Galaxy and Apple devices to make it easier for everyone in the home to stay connected.” With the update, you can, for instance, have a shared “Good Morning” automation between SmartThings and Shortcuts. On iOS, just activate Siri and say the routine name to switch on the lights and the coffee maker, as well as to raise the blinds at the same time. A “Good night” automation could dim the lights and switch off everything at once.

In addition, the update will give you the ability to see your SmartThings devices and device groups on your Apple Watch. You’ll be able to control them and run automations from the wearable. Samsung will now show your five most recently used devices on iOS Live Activities, as well, so you can quickly check your ACs, air purifiers, washing machines and other Samsung products.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/samsung-makes-smartthings-routines-compatible-with-siri-voice-commands-130000236.html?src=rss

Over the past year, scammers have ramped up a new way to infect the computers of unsuspecting people. The increasingly common method, which many potential targets have yet to learn of, is quick, bypasses most endpoint protections, and works against both macOS and Windows users.

ClickFix often starts with an email sent from a hotel that the target has a pending registration with and references the correct registration information. In other cases, ClickFix attacks begin with a WhatsApp message. In still other cases, the user receives the URL at the top of Google results for a search query. Once the mark accesses the malicious site referenced, it presents a CAPTCHA challenge or other pretext requiring user confirmation. The user receives an instruction to copy a string of text, open a terminal window, paste it in, and press Enter.

One line is all it takes

Once entered, the string of text causes the PC or Mac to surreptitiously visit a scammer-controlled server and download malware. Then, the machine automatically installs it—all with no indication to the target. With that, users are infected, usually with credential-stealing malware. Security firms say ClickFix campaigns have run rampant. The lack of awareness of the technique, combined with the links also coming from known addresses or in search results, and the ability to bypass some endpoint protections are all factors driving the growth.

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It’s been just over a year since Sony launched the updated PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro consoles, so how’s that going given Sony’s pessimistic outlook in May? Pretty well, judging by the company’s latest earnings report. Sony sold more PlayStation 5s last quarter than it did a year ago (3.9 million compared to 3.8 million), boosting total PS5 sales to 84.2 million since launch. Sony also expects more revenue from its gaming (G&NS) division than it previously forecast. 

Back in May, Sony predicted a ¥100 billion ($700 million) hit to revenue in fiscal year 2025 due to tariffs, given that most of its sales occur in the US. Another key blow was the delay of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI launch that was first pushed back to May 2026 and was recently delayed again until November 19, 2026. 

However, Sony now expects to sell more hardware than it thought and make ¥4.47 trillion in gaming revenue ($29 billion) for its full year ending March 31, 2026 — up ¥150 billion ($973 million) from its last forecast. That figure, would be slightly below its full year 2024 sales of ¥4.670 trillion ($30.3 billion), but it’s still impressive for a nearly five year old console that has seen multiple price hikes. .

In terms of game sales, the main highlight was Ghost of Yotei, which sold 3.3 million units as of November 2, 2025, just a month after it launched. The company sold 6.3 million first-party games across PS5 and PS4 (up one million compared to last year) and 80.3 million games total. 

As for PlayStation Network, monthly active users hit 119 million, up 3 million from last year at this time. Sony doesn’t break out PS Plus Premium subscribers, but that service just launched a new feature that lets you stream games you own over the cloud on the PlayStation Portal. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-has-sold-842-million-playstation-5s-since-launch-123004469.html?src=rss

Apple’s entry-level smartwatch has improved so much it delivers an experience comparable to pricier Apple Watches. The most important upgrades in the SE 3 are the always-on display, faster charging speeds and on-device Siri. This brings a lot of parity to other Apple Watch devices in the most crucial areas.

It doesn’t have everything: The SE 3’s optical sensor is older and lacks the capabilities of Series 10 and 11 smartwatches, which feature electrical heart rate sensors. You’ll still get notifications for irregular rhythms and low cardio fitness as well as high and low heart rate notifications. All of this for $259? (Or $200 if you’re quick.) It’s the most tempting first step into Apple’s wearable yet. It might be time for me to upgrade from my Series 8.

— Mat Smith

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Nintendo announces its Black Friday deals

Switch 2 bundles, Switch game deals and more.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the console launch of 2025, and it will undoubtedly be at the top of many wish lists for both kids and adults. If you were hoping to save a bit on the console during Black Friday, you may be disappointed. However, the marquee Nintendo deals for the holidays come as console bundles. When the Switch 2 launched earlier this year, it was available as just the console only for $449 or bundled with Mario Kart World for $499. Both options are still available, but there’s a new bundle to consider as well, the console with the new Pokémon Legends: Z-A game, which also costs $499.

The Nintendo eShop will have cyber deals on games November 20 through December 3. The shop will feature “holiday offers on select games,” but we don’t know which games they will be. Meanwhile, other retailers will have discounts on some physical Switch games, including Princess Peach: Showtime!, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. Those will each be $40, while other games like Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo Switch Sports, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Splatoon 3 will be $30.

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The latest Death Stranding collab is an actual exoskeleton

Get those steps in even easier.

Kojima Productions has a new collaboration for anyone who wishes to enhance their lower-body strength and stability — or simply prepare for cosplay in 2026. The studio has teamed up with exoskeleton maker Dnsys for a limited run of a model based on Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. It’s said to mimic the game’s load-balancing system by offloading up to 200 percent of the wearer’s body weight from their knees to help protect the joints. Dnsys said it adds 50 percent more power to steps and “intelligent gait control” to improve balance on stairs and uneven terrain.

Continue reading.

Renders show off Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S26+

Maybe no S25 Edge successor.

According to a report from Android Headlines, Samsung may stick with its Plus models of Galaxy phone — and ditch the just-got-here Edge line. A leaker has given us a glimpse at the forthcoming S26+, and it looks similar to the company’s other smartphones. The small, raised camera island has been tweaked a bit, and the report suggests the S26+ will be 7.35mm thick, which is in line with the S25+. It also seems to be decidedly chunkier than the S25 Edge, so this is likely not a swap: The next Plus device won’t be the Edge.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121537568.html?src=rss

Apple has announced a new accessory that feels a bit out of left field, to say the least. Say hello to the limited edition iPhone Pocket, a 3D-knitted “ribbed open structure” designed in collaboration with Issey Miyake. Available with a short or long strap design, it can be worn on your arm, attached to a bag or across your body. 

“The design of iPhone Pocket speaks to the bond between iPhone and its user, while keeping in mind that an Apple product is designed to be universal in aesthetic and versatile in use,” Miyake Design Studio design director, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, said in a statement. “iPhone Pocket explores the concept of ‘the joy of wearing iPhone in your own way.'”

Yes, this “additional pocket” is a real item that you can purchase and decide for yourself if it’s bizarre or — dare we say — kind of chic? The iPhone Pocket’s short strap model is available in lemon, mandarin, purple, pink, peacock, sapphire, cinnamon and black. The long strap design comes in sapphire, cinnamon and black. Apple’s vice president of industrial design, Molly Anderson, added that the different options were “intentionally designed to mix and match with all our iPhone models and colors.”

Apple

The iPhone Pocket is available this Friday, November 14, on Apple’s website. However, the release is not only limited in quantity, but in location. You can pick one up online from the US, France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea or the UK. With phone theft so high in the latter, it isn’t the worst option we’ve seen to keep your phone secure while out and about. 

If you live in very specific cities then you might also be able to see one in person. In the US, it will only be available at New York City’s SoHo Apple Store. Whether you buy it in person or online, the iPhone Pocket will put you back a pretty penny. The short strap is going for $150, while the long strap retails for $230. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-and-issey-miyakes-iphone-pocket-is-a-knitted-sleeve-to-hold-your-phone-103504776.html?src=rss

Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: The UK Department for Education is “replacing its narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16-18-year-olds.” The move aims to correct unintended consequences of a shift made more than a decade ago from the existing ICT (Information and Communications Technology) curriculum, which focused on basic digital skills, to a more rigorous Computer Science curriculum at the behest of major tech firms and advocacy groups to address concerns about the UK’s programming talent pipeline.

The UK pivot from rigorous CS to AI literacy comes as tech-backed nonprofit Code.org leads a similar shift in the U.S., pivoting from its original 2013 mission calling for rigorous CS for U.S. K-12 students to a new mission that embraces AI literacy. Code.org next month will replace its flagship Hour of Code event with a new Hour of AI “designed to bring AI education into the mainstream” with the support of its partners, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Code.org has pledged to engage 25 million learners with the new Hour of AI this school year.

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China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months, “adding evidence to the hope that the world’s biggest polluter has managed to hit its target of peak CO2 emissions well ahead of schedule,” reports the Guardian. From the report: Rapid increases in the deployment of solar and wind power generation — which grew by 46% and 11% respectively in the third quarter of this year — meant the country’s energy sector emissions remained flat, even as the demand for electricity increased. China added 240GW of solar capacity in the first nine months of this year, and 61GW of wind, putting it on track for another renewable record in 2025. Last year, the country installed 333GW of solar power, more than the rest of the world combined. […]

The analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), for the science and climate policy website Carbon Brief, found China’s CO2 emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, thanks in part to declining emissions in the travel, cement and steel industries. But China has a record of underpromising and overdelivering on climate targets. Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a US-based thinktank, said in a recent note that the latest Chinese climate targets should be seen as a baseline and not a ceiling.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Broadcom and a company called CAMB.AI are teaming up to bring on-device audio translation to a chipset. This would allow devices that use the SoC to complete translation, dubbing and audio description tasks without having to dip into the cloud. In other words, it could massively improve accessibility for consumers.

The companies promise ultra-low latency and enhanced privacy, being that all processing is kept local to the user’s device. The wireless bandwidth should also be drastically reduced.

As for the audio description piece, there’s a demo video of the tool being used on a clip from the film Ratatouille. The AI can be heard describing the scene in various languages, in addition to a written translation appearing on-screen. This looks incredibly useful, particularly for those with vision issues.

There is a major caveat. This is a tightly controlled clip with plenty of edits. We have no idea how this tech will work in a real world scenario. Also, we don’t know how accurate the information will be. It does feature a voice model that’s already being used by organizations like NASCAR, Comcast and Eurovision.

The companies boast that this will enable “on-device translation in over 150 languages.” We don’t know when these chips will begin showing up in TVs and other gadgets. The tech is in the testing phase for now, so it’s gonna be a while. Broadcom also recently teamed up with OpenAI to help the latter company to manufacture its own chips.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/broadcom-just-announced-an-ai-chipset-that-translates-audio-in-real-time-directly-on-the-device-050036717.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: It appears that Neom — Saudi Arabia’s hugely expensive, architecturally bizarre urban development project — is floundering and close to collapse. A new report from the Financial Times cites high-level sources within the project to paint a picture of dysfunction and failure at the heart of the quixotic effort. Neom was envisioned as a vast series of fantastical urban developments spread across the coast of the Red Sea. At the center of the project is The Line — a proposed 105-mile-long city which developers had initially projected could house as many as 9 million people by the year 2030.

The Line is defined by bizarre architectural flourishes that, as the story notes, have seemed impossible even to the execs tasked with making them a reality. One such addition is an upside-down building, dubbed “the chandelier,” that is supposed to hang over a “gateway” marina to the city: “As architects worked through the plans, the chandelier began to seem implausible. One recalled warning Tarek Qaddumi, The Line’s executive director, of the difficulty of suspending a 30-story building upside down from a bridge hundreds of metres in the air. ‘You do realize the earth is spinning? And that tall towers sway?’ he said. The chandelier, the architect explained, could ‘start to move like a pendulum,’ then ‘pick up speed,’ and eventually ‘break off,’ crashing into the marina below.”

Yes, that doesn’t sound great. Now, according to those sources the FT talked to, the project is looking more and more like a hugely expensive pipe dream that will never come to pass: “Today, with at least $50 billion spent, the desert is pock-marked with piling, and deep trenches stretch across the landscape. But Prince Mohammed, who chairs Neom, has dramatically scaled back the first phase of the plans. Neom told the FT that The Line remained ‘a strategic priority’ that would ultimately ‘provide a new blueprint for humanity by changing the way people live.’ But they described it as a ‘multi-generational development of unprecedented scale and complexity.'”

The outlet interviewed workers on the project who seem to feel that it’s only a matter of time before the project is declared DOA: “While Neom employees say that much of The Line might still be technically buildable, they are not convinced anyone is ready to pay for it. Construction work across Neom has slowed, with the desert ski resort Trojena, the intended venue for the 2029 Asian Winter Games, one of the few sites still moving ahead at pace … one former employee has said that everyone knows the project won’t work; it is now just a matter of letting MBS down gently.”

Chief among the project’s problems is the fact that, as Neom’s bizarre developments have failed to materialize, it has become increasingly difficult to encourage investors to put up money for the absurdly expensive project. FT notes: “Senior executives were constantly asking for more money, but The Line was competing with other Neom projects. Some wealthy Saudi families put modest sums into the project, but the large investments Riyadh hoped to lure from foreign backers never materialized.” The lack of adequate funding coming in has led a senior construction manager to tell FT that he feels the Line will never be built.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Slashdot reader alternative_right shares an exclusive BBC interview with Vyacheslav “Tank” Penchukov, once a top-tier cyber-crime boss behind Jabber Zeus, IcedID, and major ransomware campaigns. His story traces the evolution of modern cybercrime from early bank-theft malware to today’s lucrative ransomware ecosystem, marked by shifting alliances, Russian security-service ties, and the paranoia that ultimately consumes career hackers. Here’s an excerpt from the report: In the late 2000s, he and the infamous Jabber Zeus crew used revolutionary cyber-crime tech to steal directly from the bank accounts of small businesses, local authorities and even charities. Victims saw their savings wiped out and balance sheets upended. In the UK alone, there were more than 600 victims, who lost more than $5.2 million in just three months. Between 2018 and 2022, Penchukov set his sights higher, joining the thriving ransomware ecosystem with gangs that targeted international corporations and even a hospital. […]

Penchukov says he did not think about the victims, and he does not seem to do so much now, either. The only sign of remorse in our conversation was when he talked about a ransomware attack on a disabled children’s charity. His only real regret seems to be that he became too trusting with his fellow hackers, which ultimately led to him and many other criminals being caught. “You can’t make friends in cyber-crime, because the next day, your friends will be arrested and they will become an informant,” he says. “Paranoia is a constant friend of hackers,” he says. But success leads to mistakes. “If you do cyber-crime long enough you lose your edge,” he says, wistfully.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The European Commission is considering turning its non-binding 2020 guidance on “high-risk vendors” into a legal requirement that would effectively force EU member states to phase out Huawei and ZTE from mobile and fixed-line networks. Bloomberg reports: Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen wants to convert the European Commission’s 2020 recommendation to stop using high-risk vendors in mobile networks into a legal requirement, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. While infrastructure decisions rest with national governments, Virkkunen’s proposal would compel EU countries to align with the commission’s security guidance.

The EU is increasingly focused on the risks posed by Chinese telecom equipment makers as trade and political ties with its second-largest trading partner fray. The concern is that handing over control of critical national infrastructure to companies with such close ties to Beijing could compromise national security interests.

Virkkunen is examining ways to limit the use of Chinese equipment suppliers in fixed-line networks, as countries push for the rapid deployment of state-of-the-art fiber cables to expand high-speed internet access. The commission is also considering measures to dissuade non-EU countries from relying on Chinese vendors, including by withholding Global Gateway funding from nations that use the grants for projects involving Huawei equipment, according to the people.

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This is a video of musician Miguel Lawrence performing Korsakov’s iconic ‘Flight Of The Bumblebee’ on a sopranino recorder at a speed that would make even bees proud. Both the fingerwork and breathwork are most impressive. I wouldn’t be able to do that. Honestly, I got winded just typing this. Whenever anybody asks how I’m doing, my answer is never not “I could really use a nap.”

This is a video of Youtuber Mattias Krantz attempting to teach an octopus named Tako to play the piano over the course of six months. That’s a long time. Like a quarter of an octopus’s life. If I spent a quarter of my life trying to learn something, I’d like to think that I would learn it. I wouldn’t though, I would fail. I’m speaking from experience. I just want to know how to love and be loved!

During an earnings call on Monday, Rocket Lab chief executive Pete Beck announced that the company’s medium-lift launch vehicle, Neutron, would not launch this year.

For anyone with the slightest understanding of the challenges involved in bringing a new rocket to the launch pad, as well as a calendar, the delay does not come as a surprise. Although Rocket Lab had been holding on to the possibility of launching Neutron this year publicly, it has been clear for months that a slip into 2026 was inevitable.

According to Beck, speaking during a third-quarter 2025 earnings call, the new timeline has the company bringing Neutron to Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the first quarter of next year. The first launch is scheduled to occur “thereafter,” according to the company’s plans.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Privacy activists say proposed changes to Europe’s landmark privacy law, including making it easier for Big Tech to harvest Europeans’ personal data for AI training, would flout EU case law and gut the legislation. The changes proposed by the European Commission are part of a drive to simplify a slew of laws adopted in recent years on technology, environmental and financial issues which have in turn faced pushback from companies and the U.S. government.

EU antitrust chief Henna Virkkunen will present the Digital Omnibus, in effect proposals to cut red tape and overlapping legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Artificial Intelligence Act, the e-Privacy Directive and the Data Act, on November 19. According to the plans, Google, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and other tech companies may be allowed to use Europeans’ personal data to train their AI models based on legitimate interest.

In addition, companies may be exempted from the ban on processing special categories of personal data “in order not to disproportionately hinder the development and operation of AI and taking into account the capabilities of the controller to identify and remove special categories of personal data.” […] The proposals would need to be thrashed out with EU countries and European Parliament in the coming months before they can be implemented. “The draft Digital Omnibus proposes countless changes to many different articles of the GDPR. In combination this amounts to a death by a thousand cuts,” Austrian privacy group noyb said in a statement. “This would be a massive downgrading of Europeans’ privacy 10 years after the GDPR was adopted,” noyb’s Max Schrems said.

“These proposals would change how the EU protects what happens inside your phone, computer and connected devices,” European Digital Rights policy advisor Itxaso Dominguez de Olazabal wrote in a LinkedIn post. “That means access to your device could rely on legitimate interest or broad exemptions like security, fraud detection or audience measurement,” she said.

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The PDF Association is adding JPEG XL (JXL) support to the PDF specification, giving the advanced image format a new path to relevance despite Google’s decision to declare it obsolete and remove it from Chromium. The Register reports: Peter Wyatt, CTO of the PDF Association, said: “We need to adopt a new image [format] that can support HDR [High Dynamic Range] content … we have picked JPEG XL as our preferred solution.” Wyatt also praised other benefits of JXL including wide gamut images, ultra-high resolution support for images with more than 1 billion pixels, and up to 4099 channels with up to 32 bits per channel.

The association is responsible for developing PDF specifications and standards and manages the ISO committee for PDF. JPEG XL is an advanced image format that was designed to be both more efficient and richer in features than JPEG. It was based on a combination of the Free Lossless Image Format (FLIF) from Cloudinary and a Google project called PIK, first released in late 2020, and fully standardized in October 2021 as ISO/IEC 18181. There is a reference implementation called libjxl. A second edition of the ISO standard was published in 2024.

JXL appeared to have wide industry support, including experimental implementation in Chrome and Chromium, until it was killed by Google in October 2022 and removed from its web browser engine. The company stated that “there is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL.” Many in the community disagreed with the decision, including FLIF inventor Jon Sneyers, who perceived it as the outcome of an internal battle between proponents of JXL and a rival format, AVIF. “AVIF proponents within Chrome are essentially being prosecutor, judge and executioner at the same time,” he said.

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Intuitive Machines announced last week an $800 million acquisition that will catapult the one-time startup into the space industry establishment.

The company’s planned purchase of Lanteris Space Systems, a satellite manufacturer you may have never heard of, is rather significant. Lanteris is the latest addition to a line of corporate brands that dates back to 1957. Until last month, the company was known as Maxar Space Systems. Its acquisition by Intuitive Machines would be perhaps the industry’s most evident example of a “New Space” firm buying up an “Old Space” company.

The deal would help Intuitive Machines expand beyond its core competency of Moon missions to the broader sector of satellite manufacturing and space services. Lanteris has been owned since 2023 by Advent International, a private equity firm. The transaction is expected to close early next year, subject to “customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions,” according to Intuitive Machines.

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