A federal court ruled that Facebook parent Meta can’t use attorney-client privilege to block internal documents and research related to teen harm, Bloomberg Law reported. The decision is a setback to Meta in its lawsuits against multiple states that accused the company of making its platforms addictive despite knowing they were harmful to teenagers.
Judge Yvonne Williams of the Washington, DC Superior Court found that Meta’s lawyers advised employees to “remove,” “block,” “button up” or “limit” portions of internal studies on the harm of social media to teens’ mental health, in order to limit the company’s legal liability. The court said that this advice appeared to be an attempt to cover up or alter information, meaning it falls under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. Meta now has seven days to turn over four documents created between November 2022 and July 2023.
Meta disagreed with the ruling, a spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement. “These were routine, appropriate lawyer-client discussions and contrary to the District’s misleading claim, no research findings were deleted or destroyed.”
The ruling is related to lawsuits filed in a California court involving dozens of US state attorneys general. Also involved are hundreds of private civil lawsuits filed by parents, teens and school boards against Meta and other platforms around social media addiction and harms. The first trials are scheduled to start in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-lawyers-tried-to-block-internal-research-showing-teen-harm-judge-rules-120015673.html?src=rss
This weekend’s notable events are headlined by Zwift’s Fondo Series, but we’ve also got a popular community race series kicking off, a unique women’s team chase event, a massive charity ride, and more. See details below!
Note: European clocks change on Sunday, so some of the times for Sunday events below may shift by an hour depending on where you’re located!
zFondo Series on Medio Fondo
Bonus XP Popular Endurance Challenge Jersey Unlock
This is the second weekend of Zwift’s popular monthly Fondo Series, and we’re already seeing lots of riders signing up for these long “fun races.”
On the heels of last week‘s 24-hour charity ride, BMTR is holding their annual Breast Cancer Awareness 500km event! There are four events set up which you can choose from if you aren’t able to ride the full 500km, or join all four and stick around afterward to finish the full 500km.
In all four events, the yellow beacon will ride at a C category pace, averaging 2.4-2.8 w/kg. However, BMTR encourages riders to form groups that work for your pace.
This event benefits Metavivor, whose mission to offer hope for those with metastatic breast cancer. Donate here >
This interesting women-only event is a chase race… with a twist! This is truly a team chase race designed to encourage all riders in each category to work together to the end, because the final time for each rider is taken from the 4th rider in your category who crosses the line. (So your solo breakaway off the front isn’t going to help… you’ve got to work together!)
The race is on Scotland’s The Muckle Yin (23.7km, 282m) and groups are based on Zwift Racing Score.
The popular HERD Winter Racing Series kicks off this weekend! This is a 20-week series of weekend mass-start races. The series has a mix of flat, rolling, short climb, and even some long climb courses, so there’s something for everyone. It also visits all Zwift worlds.
A GC on ZwiftPower tracks series results, with your best 16 finishes counting (so you can miss a race or four if needed). This week’s race is on France’s Gentil 8 (25.8km, 258m).
This popular group ride from Morning Glory Cycling Club returns this weekend after a summer break. The club describes this as “not an easy ride, but a friendly don’t get dropped type of ride.” A Discord channel for voice chat is available, which always helps pass the time on longer group rides.
Pacing notes: warm up ~2.0 for 7 minutes. The rest of the ride will be at around 2.3-2.5w/kg, and the hills will be max at 3.2w/kg. There’s also a finishing sprint!
This week’s event is held on Watopia’s Big Foot Hills (69.9km, 714m).
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
Open-source foundations and projects that have charity status in
the US may want to see if GoFundMe has created a profile
for them without permission. The company has operated since 2010 as a
self-service fundraising platform; individuals or groups could create
pages to raise money for all manner of causes. In June, the company announced
that it would expand its offerings to “manage all aspects of
charitable giving” for users through its platform. That seems to
include creating profiles for nonprofit organizations without their
involvement. After pushback, the company said
on October 23 that it would be removing the pages. It has not
answered more fundamental questions about how it planned to disburse
funds to nonprofits that had no awareness of the GoFundMe pages in the
first place.
The headset is lighter, more comfortable and easier to live with than Apple’s Vision Pro, even if it lacks many of its headline features. The software ecosystem is already pretty broad, thanks to Google making a real effort with Android XR, but dedicated apps are still a bit rare.
Samsung’s entry into the market might provide some much-needed impetus for this type of augmented reality headset. That it’s half the price of Apple’s Vision Pro may also loosen some wallets eager to get into this world.
But it’s hard not to see this as Samsung running down the same cul-de-sac Apple is now lurking at the end of. It has allowed other companies, like Meta, to waltz in and grab an early lead in the much more useful smart glasses market.
Apple’s online-only announcement of the new vanilla M5 MacBooks might have been a sign the new models were no big deal. But Devindra Hardawar found these were, in fact, quite a big deal, and the M5’s faster GPU has the chops to go toe-to-toe with a gaming PC.
It wants to offer a better alternative to your smartphone.
Tim Stevens for Engadget
Toyota isn’t happy folks just default to CarPlay or Android Auto for their in-car infotainment. That’s why it’s chosen to radically redesign its OS for the 2026 RAV4 to include voice and touch control. Tim Stevens has ridden the new whip and has plenty of opinions on whether it’s worth your time or, you know… you’ll just default to CarPlay or Android Auto.
As much as I may want an iPad Pro, it wouldn’t play a role in my life that would get anywhere near to justifying its extortionate price. Consequently, I shall just live vicariously through Nathan Ingraham, who reviewed the M5 edition and found it to be a work of art. But, you know, it has a price so eye-watering that nobody who’s on the fence about owning one should bother. Then, Nate pivoted to writing about how the iPad Pro has, at least, carved out its own identity.
It plans to replace more than half a million employees.
Amazon may be planning to use automation to eliminate more than half a million jobs in the next few years. The New York Times claims to have seen internal documents outlining the plans and the PR operation that’ll get underway ahead of time to quell public anger.
Maybe there’s nothing interesting about the fact Changpeng Zhao was just pardoned by President Trump despite pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. I mean, yes, Zhao has ties to World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture linked to the Trump family. But that’s not uncommon, is it? Surely everyone would use the privilege of high office to exonerate people with whom they potentially have fruitful relationships. Right?
Welcome to Edition 8.16 of the Rocket Report! The 10th anniversary of SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 rocket landing is coming up at the end of this year. We’re still waiting for a second company to bring back an orbital-class booster from space for a propulsive landing. Two companies, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and China’s LandSpace, could join SpaceX’s exclusive club as soon as next month. (Bezos might claim he’s already part of the club, but there’s a distinction to be made.) Each company is in the final stages of launch preparations—Blue Origin for its second New Glenn rocket, and LandSpace for the debut flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket. Blue Origin and LandSpace will both attempt to land their first stage boosters downrange from their launch sites. They’re not exactly in a race with one another, but it will be fascinating to see how New Glenn and Zhuque-3 perform during the uphill and downhill phases of flight, and whether one or both of the new rockets stick the landing.
As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
The race for space-based interceptors. The Trump administration’s announcement of the Golden Dome missile defense shield has set off a race among US companies to develop and test space weapons, some of them on their own dime, Ars reports. One of these companies is a 3-year-old startup named Apex, which announced plans to test a space-based interceptor as soon as next year. Apex’s concept will utilize one of the company’s low-cost satellite platforms outfitted with an “Orbital Magazine” containing multiple interceptors, which will be supplied by an undisclosed third-party partner. The demonstration in low-Earth orbit could launch as soon as June 2026 and will test-fire two interceptors from Apex’s Project Shadow spacecraft. The prototype interceptors could pave the way for operational space-based interceptors to shoot down ballistic missiles. (submitted by biokleen)
Sesame, an AI and smart glasses startup founded by former Oculus execs, raised $250 million in Series B funding, which the company hopes will accelerate its voice-based AI.
The News
As first reported by Tech Crunch, lead investors in Sesame’s Series B include Spark Capital and Sequoia Capital, bringing the company’s overall funding to $307.6 million, according to Crunchbasedata.
Exiting stealth earlier this year, Sesame was founded by Oculus co-founder and former CEO Brendan Iribe, former Oculus hardware architect Ryan Brown, and Ankit Kumar, former CTO of AR startup Ubiquity6. Additionally, Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell announced in June he was joining Sesame as Chief Product Officer, which he noted was to “help bring computers to life.”
Image courtesy Sesame
Sesame is currently working on an AI assistant along with a pair of lightweight smart glasses. Its AI assistant aims to be “the perfect AI conversational partner,” Sequoia Capital says in a recent post.
“Sesame’s vision is to build an ambient interface that is always available and has contextual awareness of the world around you,” Sequoia says. “To achieve that, Sesame is creating their own lightweight, fashion-forward AI-enabled glasses designed to be worn all day. They’re intentionally crafted—fit for everyday life.”
Sesame is currently taking signups for beta access to its AI assistants Miles and Maya in an iOS app, and also has a public preview showcasing a ‘call’ function that allows you to speak with the chatbots.
My Take
Love it or hate it, AI is going to be baked into everything in the future, as contextually aware systems hope to bridge the gap between user input and the expectation of timely and intelligent output. That’s increasingly important when the hardware doesn’t include a display, requiring the user to interface almost entirely by voice.
Some things to watch out for: if the company does commercialize a pair of smart glasses to champion its AI assistant, it will be competing for some pretty exclusive real estate that companies like Meta, Google, Samsung, and Apple (still unconfirmed) are currently gunning for. That puts Sesame at somewhat of a disadvantage if it hopes to go it alone, but not if it’s hoping for a timely exit into the coming wave of smart glasses by being acquired by any of the above.
There’s also some pretty worrying precedent in the rear view mirror too: e.g. Humane’s AI Pin or AI Friend necklace, both of which were publicly lambasted for essentially releasing hardware that could just as easily have been apps on your smartphone.
Granted, Sesame hasn’t shown off its smart glasses hardware yet, so there’s no telling what the company hopes to bring to the table outside of the having an easy-to-wear pair of off-ear headphones for all-day AI stuff—that, to me, would be the worst case scenario, as Meta refines its own smart glasses in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, Google releases Android XR frames with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, Samsung releases its own Android XR glasses, and Apple does… something. We don’t know yet.
Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to it, if only based on the company’s combined experience in XR, which I’d argue any startup would envy as the race to build the next big computing platform truly takes off.
The Asahi Linux developers involved with working on Linux support for Apple Silicon M-Series devices have put out a new progress report on their development efforts…
Modern computing systems rely heavily on operating-system schedulers to allocate CPU time fairly and efficiently. Yet many of these schedulers operate blindly with respect to the meaning of workloads: they cannot distinguish, for example, whether a task is latency-sensitive or batch-oriented. This mismatch, between application semantics and scheduler heuristics, is often referred to as the semantic gap. A recent research framework called SchedCP aims to close that gap.
Valve contractor Timur Kristóf for their Linux graphics driver team has been working on improving Linux driver support for old AMD Radeon GCN 1.0 and GCN 1.1 generation GPUs. This has been about improving the AMDGPU driver to fill remaining gaps in GCN 1.0/1.1 support with those graphics cards by default relying on the older “Radeon” DRM kernel graphics driver compared to the AMDGPU driver used by default with GCN 1.2 and later. Another feature gap for AMDGPU is now being addressed with Video Coding Engine 1.0 support…
Patina 13.0 is now available as this Rust implementation of UEFI firmware. Patina has been working to replace the core UEFI firmware components in a pure Rust implementation to avoid the use of C code…
Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales are merging their space divisions into a new France-based company that aims to create a “leading European player in space.” The joint venture, expected to launch operations by 2027 pending regulatory approval, will pool R&D resources to accelerate satellite development and strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty in space. Engadget reports: The companies Airbus, Leonardo and Thales have finalized this deal. The new unnamed entity will be based in France and will employ around 25,000 people. Airbus will own 35 percent, while the other two companies will each own 32.5 percent. Executives are hoping this company will better serve Europe’s need for “sovereignty” in space and help it create a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink communications network. Increasing a presence in space is also seen as a good thing for security and defense.
This isn’t just bluster. Thales and Airbus have long been rivals in the satellite market, but it looks like they are friends now. Leonardo is known for space systems and services. Combining all three could actually give SpaceX a run for its money, but we will have to wait and see. There are no planned site closures, as the companies say that each home country will keep its existing capabilities. This will be a standalone company, so think of it as an extremely well-financed startup. The first task for the upstart? Reporting indicates it’ll be to find more efficient ways to develop and manufacture satellites.
Back in August, open-source developer Masahiro Yamada stepped down from maintaining the Kconfig and Kbuild areas of the Linux kernel. While Kbuild maintainership was quickly passed on, no one immediately stepped up to maintain Kconfig as the infrastructure code for configuring the Linux kernel builds. That led to Kconfig officially being orphaned code within the kernel but now that situation has been addressed…
Wilier has launched an update to its Filante pro-level race bike, ridden by the Groupama-FDJ WorldTour pro team.
Wilier claims the new Filante ID2 is 13.6% more aero than its predecessor, based on its analyses at the Silverstone wind tunnel in the UK. That’s greater than Wilier had expected based on its CFD modelling, which predicted a 12% improvement in aerodynamics. When it placed a rider atop the bike, it registered a 4.5% aero benefit.
Wilier says that equates to a 14.15-watt drag reduction at 40km/h, or a 1 minute, 45 seconds faster time over 70km when riding at 290W.
A trip to the Silverstone wind tunnel is becoming an essential for any bike with aero pretentions.
The brand has also carried out a head-to-head comparison against five WorldTour bikes, claiming the new Filante ID2 is 2.42% faster on average.
Wilier uses a mix of M46JB, T1100 and T800 carbon fibre for the bike’s frame and claims an 860g frame weight, as well as a 7.5% increase in bottom-bracket stiffness over the previous-generation Filante. It says a complete bike equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace weighs 7.1kg.
Aero bottles and cages
Much of the aero gain is claimed to come from the down tube shape, and the aero bottles and cages.
Wilier says much of the Filante ID2’s aero gain comes from its down tube shape, designed to shield the custom-designed aero bottles and cages, which are a collaboration with Elite.
As with other bikes, such as the Trek Madone Gen 8, Wilier says the Filante ID2 is more aero with bottles in place than without, claiming they reduce drag by more than two thirds compared to standard bottles and cages.
Like the Madone, its system is compatible with regular round bottles as well as its aero bottles, an important consideration for bikes used in races.
There’s 1,100ml total capacity with the aero bottles in place, or the option to hold a 750ml round bottle on the seat tube to carry more.
New flared bar
The Filante ID2 follows the Wilier Verticale with its flared bar.
Wilier adopted front-end integration as long ago as 2016 and the Filante ID2 is fitted with its latest bar/stem iteration, which it calls the F-Bar ID2.
As is now common on new performance race bikes, including Wilier’s own Verticale, there’s a flare to the bar – in this case, 3 degrees. Wilier has three widths available: 350/380mm, 370/400mm and 390/420mm. Effective stem lengths run from 75mm to 120mm.
The new handlebar completely encloses the clamping hardware, protecting it from contamination.
Wilier has also borrowed the aero, vibration-absorbing seatpost profile from its Supersonica SLR time trial bike. It comes stock in 0mm setback, but you can request a 15mm-setback version when ordering.
As is increasingly the case with modern road bike designs, including the Specialized Tarmac SL8 and the Cannondale SuperSix Evo, there’s not enough room in the seatpost to fit a Shimano Di2 battery, so Wilier has moved it to the bottom bracket area, where it’s housed in a resin casing. It can be removed easily if needed.
Wilier says the placement also lowers the bike’s centre of mass, improving high-speed stability.
Updated fork and seatstay profiles
Wilier says the seatstays are angled in slightly for better airflow.
Wilier has worked on its fork design, with a new aero blade profile, a more robust fork crown for increased torsional stiffness, an aero fin on the left leg that helps improve aerodynamics around the brake caliper and rotor, and a blind thru-axle bolt on the right leg to smooth airflow.
There’s been more work done on the rear triangle, which now offers 34mm tyre clearance and a UDH dropout, with a slightly increased 41.1cm chainstay length. The seastays are now angled slightly inwards, with the 2.5-degree angle claimed to improve aerodynamic interaction between the stays and the rider’s legs.
Along with the Universal Derailleur Hanger at the rear, the front derailleur hanger can be removed, so the Filante ID2 is compatible with SRAM Full Mount 1×13-speed groupsets or a 56-tooth single chainring.
Wilier Filante ID2 specs and prices
Royal blue is one of five colour options.
Wilier will sell the Filante ID2 equipped with a range of top-tier groupsets, including options with and without a power meter.
There are two wheelset options: the higher-spec 1,445g Miche Kleos RD 50 and the lower-spec Kleos 50 with a 1,545g claimed weight. There’s also a frame-kit option, complete with bar/stem, and aero bottles and cages.
There are six frame sizes available, which in combination with the different component choices and setups offer 420 different sizing options. The Filante ID2 is available in five colours.
Campagnolo Super Record 13 w/o power meter, Miche Kleos RD 50 wheelset: €13,100
SRAM Red AXS w/ power meter, Miche Kleos RD 50 wheelset: €12,900
We apologize for the impact this event caused our customers. While we have a strong track record of operating our services with the highest levels of availability, we know how critical our services are to our customers, their applications and end users, and their businesses. We know this event impacted many customers in significant ways. We will do everything we can to learn from this event and use it to improve our availability even further.
An Icelandic programmer successfully ran Doom on the European Space Agency’s OPS-SAT satellite, proving that the iconic 1993 shooter can now run not just everywhere on Earth — but in orbit. ZDNet reports: Olafur Waage, a senior software developer from Iceland who now works in Norway, explained at Ubuntu Summit 25.10 how he, a self-described “professional keyboard typist” and maker of funny videos, ended up making what is perhaps the game’s most outlandish port yet: Doom running on a real satellite in orbit, the European Space Agency (ESA) OPS-SAT satellite. OPS-SAT, a “flying laboratory” for testing novel onboard computing techniques, was equipped with an experimental computer approximately 10 times more powerful than the norm for spacecraft. Waag explained, “OPS-SAT was the first of its kind, devoted to demonstrating drastically improved mission control capabilities when satellites can fly more powerful onboard computers. The point was to break the curse of being too risk-averse with multi-million-dollar spacecraft.” (The satellite was decommissioned in 2024.) […]
Running Doom in orbit was partly a challenge of portability and partly a challenge of the limitations of space hardware and mission control. The on-board ARM dual-core Cortex-A9 processor, while hot stuff for space computing hardware (which tends to be low-powered and radiation-hardened), was slow even by Earth-bound standards. Waage chose Chocolate Doom 2.3, a popular open-source version of Doom, for its compatibility with the Ubuntu 18.04 Long Term Support (LTS) distro, which was already running on OPS-SAT. Besides, Waage noted, “We picked Chocolate Doom 2.3 because of the libraries available for 18.04 — that was the last one that would actually build.
Updating software in orbit is extremely difficult, so relatively little code would have to be uploaded. As Waage said, “Doom is relatively straightforward C with a few external dependencies.” In other words, it’s easy to port. […] The only sign that Doom was running in space at first was a lone log entry. So, the team used the satellite’s camera to snap real-time images of the Earth, then swapped Doom’s Mars skybox for actual satellite photos. “The idea was to take a screenshot from the satellite and use that as the sky, all rendered in software using the game’s restricted 256-color palette,” explained Waage. Even this posed unexpected difficulties: “Trying to draw all of these beautiful colors with those colors,” said Waage, “it’s probably not going to work right off. But we tried gradient tests, NASA demo photos. It took quite a bit of tweaking.” Eventually, instead of a fantasy Mars as the sky background, they got a good-looking, real Earth in the game’s sky. The game itself ran flawlessly. After all, Waage said, “It ran beautifully. It’s on Ubuntu.”
As we’ve seen with Toyota’s Prius Prime, putting a solar panel on a car’s roof is a nifty idea but can only gain you a few free miles a day due to the limited size. With a new prototype of its hyper-popular Sakura “kei” EV, Nissan has the answer: a bigger solar panel roof called the AO-Solar Extender. When fully stretched out on a sunny day, it can add about 1,864 miles of driving distance a year and power multiple accessories.
The panel works whether you’re driving or parked. When extended (in “solar pompadour” mode as my colleague put it), it generates 500 watts on sunny days. At the same time, it helps block sunlight from the windshield, “reducing cabin temperature and lowering the need for air conditioning power consumption,” Nissan noted.
NISSAN DESIGN
When retracted in driving mode, it still pumps out 300 watts in the sun (80 watts in the rain), quite a bit more than the 185 watts max generated by the Prius Prime’s solar roof. And if you’re worried about aerodynamics, Nissan said the roof is designed to minimize drag and integrate well with the Sakura’s design.
It’s not just a fun exercise, as Nissan said it’s planning to launch the AO-Solar Extender commercially, with details to follow at a later date. It could be a useful accessory on the Sakura, which has been Japan’s most popular EV since 2022 thanks to its “sufficient” range, cute kei looks and spacious interior. The automaker will show it off at the Japan Mobility Show starting on October 30, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/nissan-made-a-nifty-solar-panel-system-for-its-sakura-ev-061235566.html?src=rss
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Dinosaurs would not have become extinct had it not been for a catastrophic asteroid strike, researchers have said, challenging the idea the animals were already in decline. About 66 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, a huge space rock crashed into Earth, triggering a mass extinction that wiped out all dinosaurs except birds. However, some experts have argued the dinosaurs were already in decline. Now researchers say the dating of a rock formation in New Mexico throws doubt on that idea, suggesting dinosaurs were thriving until the fateful impact.
Dr Andrew Flynn, the first author of the research at New Mexico State University, said: “I think based on our new study that shows that, at least in North America, they weren’t going towards extinction.” Writing in the journal Science, Flynn and colleagues report how they dated a unit of rock called the Naashoibito Member in the San Juan basin using two methods. Flynn said the perception that overall dinosaur diversity was falling before the asteroid hit could be a result of there being fewer exposed rocks, and hence fossils, dating to the end of the Cretaceous period than earlier in the epoch. “It looks like, as far as we can tell, there’s no reason they should have gone extinct except for [the] asteroid impact,” he said.
alternative_right shares a report from Axios: The latest must-have accessory is a “stop-scrolling bag” — a tote packed with analog activities like watercolors and crossword puzzles. We spend hours glued to our screens. “Analog bags,” as they’re also called, are one way millennials and Gen Zers are reclaiming that time. “I basically just put everything I could grab for instead of my phone into a bag,” including knitting, a scrapbook and a Polaroid camera, says Sierra Campbell, the content creator behind the trend.
The 31-year-old keeps one bag at home in Northern California, carrying it from room to room, and another in her car. The trend has quickly spread on social media, part of a bigger shift to unplug. Roughly 1,600 TikTok posts were tagged #AnalogLife during the first nine months of 2025 — up over 330% from the same period last year, according to TikTok data shared with Axios. “It speaks to an incredible desperation and desire for experiences that return our attention to us, that fight brain-rotting, that are tactile … that involve creating over scrolling,” says Beth McGroarty, vice president of research at the Global Wellness Institute.
zFondo Series on Medio Fondo
Bonus XP 
LEVEL Racing – Ladies Chase Race – Muckle Yin
