At the heart of
An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a memo to staff that he will draw the same red lines that sparked a high-stakes fight between rival Anthropic and the Pentagon: no AI for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons. If other leading firms like Google follow suit, this could massively complicate the Pentagon’s efforts to replace Anthropic’s Claude, which was the first model integrated into the military’s most sensitive work. It would also be the first time the nation’s top AI leaders have taken a collective stand about how the U.S. government can and can’t use their technology.
Altman made clear he still wants to strike a deal with the Pentagon that would allow ChatGPT to be used for sensitive military contexts. Despite the show of solidarity, such a deal could see OpenAI replace Anthropic if the Pentagon follows through with its plan to declare the latter a “supply chain risk.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Right now, those in the Samsung ecosystem can take advantage of a pre-order deal on a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra unlocked phone. $1,299 discount is the standard retail price, but Amazon is offering a free $200 gift card to sweeten the deal on the phone, which officially releases on March 11, 2026, and is available in four colors.
The Ultra is the largest and most feature-rich model in the S26 line, weighing close to half a pound. Its 5,000mAh battery is the largest of the lineup, and its 6.9-inch display is perfect for those who want more of an e-reader feel to their phone. This model comes with 512GB of storage, an S Pen, and the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, which enables more AI features, stronger gaming, better multitasking capabilities, and overall faster speeds than its predecessors.
The camera system is also the most advanced in the S26 series, with a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide, and two dedicated telephoto lenses with 3x and 5x optical zoom that let you get closer without sacrificing image quality. The Ultra is also the only phone in the S26 lineup to feature the new privacy display, which is vetted by PCMag and limits the viewing angles so people can’t see the screen from off-angle, making it ideal for avoiding prying eyes. It can be used on the entire screen or just portions.
If you want the most powerful and largest Galaxy and don’t mind that it’s a little bulkier than the Plus and the S26, this unlocked Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is your best bet with top-of-the-line performance in every area and AI baked in everywhere.
Core bike is the annual kick-off for the UK bike-industry calendar, a chance for brands and distributors to show off their latest gear for the first time.
We were on hand at the show in Northamptonshire and have already shown you plenty of great new bikes and kit.
Here’s my round-up of five of the coolest things I saw at the show and should be on your radar.
First up, it’s a tweaked and refined version of an old favourite – Kinesis’ affordable, do-it-all Tripster AT gravel bike.
The 2026 Tripster AT aluminium frame and carbon fork have had a geometry update to bring it in line with the range-topping titanium ATR. Kinesis has also added more sizes, with the range expanded from 48cm up to 62cm.
Cable routing has also been improved, and Kinesis has added top tube pack mounts. What stood out for me, however, were the new colourways – subtle two-tone matt ‘Matcha Green’ and this stunning matt coffee colourway called ‘Cortado’.
The all-carbon Columbus Futura Cross+ fork is colour-matched to the frame, making this £900 frameset look so much more premium.
Here, the AT is built up in a custom show build by Kinesis owner Upgrade.
It has Shimano GRX 1x mechanical and Sector GCa alloy gravel wheels wrapped in handmade Challenge Gravine tyres. It gets a Thomson Elite seatpost and stem, and the wild-looking Farr alloy Aero Gravel bar.
The price for a build such as this would be approximately £2,700.
Next up is an unreleased new bar bag and mount system from Old Man Mountain. While not officially launching for another month or two, hence details are thin on the ground, the bag and mount look to be among the most secure and user-friendly I’ve seen.
The substantial twin-spar mount holds a supporting cradle that the bag hooks onto. This provides support and stability when bikepacking.
Cleverly, the compression straps loop through the bag and into the cradle. That means one-handed adjustment without having to fumble around holding the bag.
The fully waterproof bag has an air-release valve built in, so you can really pack down the volume, too.
The bag incorporates a T-bar on top to fit lights, a GPS or an action camera, with the twin spars offering multi-mount points, too. Old Man Mountain also told us it is looking at more accessories for the bag system, including bolt-on aero bars for marathon adventure racers.
Reserve is known for aero road wheels and tough carbon mountain bike hoops, but now – much like rivals Zipp and ENVE – it has branched out into carbon cockpits.
The new RD1 cockpit is wind-tunnel developed. Its one-piece design features a top section with an inset surface so that, once taped, the shape is more in unison and stops you from taping the key aero-advantage gaining mid-section.
The bars is available in 36, 38, 40 and 42cm widths and stem lengths from 80 to 120mm for a total of 12 configurations. Weights vary between 301g and 341g, making the RD1 impressively light.
The shape has a 75mm centre-to-centre reach and a 125mm drop with a subtle 6-degree flare. The stem has an effective -6-degree angle.
The RD1 comes with no weight limit and a lifetime warranty. The bar is accompanied by a spacer kit and headset cover optimised for Acros ICR systems (52mm upper bearing). It also includes an integrated out-front computer mount. It’s priced at £499 / $549 / €549 / CA$769.
I’d expect to see the premium RD1 becoming original equipment on high-end offerings from affiliated brands under the Pon.Bike banner, such as Cervélo and Cannondale.
Topeak has expanded its bikepacking offerings further with a new, very adaptable rear rack system and a mini-bar mounting rack.
The new Zi:Rak looks similar to thru-axle systems from the likes of Tailfin and Restrap, but it comes in a multitude of options and is compatible with Topeak’s existing rack and bag ecosystem.
You can choose between thru-axle, traditional rack mounts or quick-fix straps to attach the Zi:Rak.
It can be specified with a lightweight bar top and make use of Topeak’s new curved U-Shell accessory. This enables you to carry oversized wrap packs including Topeak’s new U-shell 10-litre dry bag.
Alternatively, you could opt for a Topeak MTX Quicktrack top, making it compatible with the wide range of top-mounting Topeak rack packs.
The vertical supports have inserts to make them compatible with traditional panniers, too. It’s all very typically Topeak, with bundles of options and accessories so you can tune the rack to your needs.
Prices are keen, ranging between £89.99 and £109.99 (approximately $110–$140). The Zi:Rak has a 25kg capacity.
Next up is Topeak’s funky handlebar rack, made from slender aluminium tubing and coming with a clever anti-droop mounting-support system. It has clamps compatible with 25.4/28.6/31.8mm-diameter bars and is compatible with most stems up to 52mm wide. It has a 4.5kg payload.
The rack weighs 320g and the elasticated cord adds another 55g. It’s priced at £49.99 / $77.95.
When it comes to upgrading brakes on gravel and road bikes, options have been thin on the ground. Stepping up the groupset hierarchy has usually been the only option.
While Hope has had a road-compatible option in its range for many years, the RX2’s minimal size and myriad colours are enough for me to want this upgrade.
When it comes to the more extreme end of gravel, I’ve often wondered about shifting to MTB-style 4-pot brakes (with four brake cylinders instead of two). The downside is the size of said brakes. Especially since the trend for road and gravel frame design has shifted away from the traditional double-diamond shape and moved to compact dropped-stay rear triangles.
With the RX4+ SL, Hope has designed a new narrower bore cap, similar to that seen on the GR4 and TR4 brakes. That’s enabled it to reduce the overall caliper width, making for a much wider range of frame compatibility.
The latest bleed nipple design has been brought over from the RX2, making for a much simpler and cleaner bleed process. Plus it reduces the all-important bulk.
Hope’s RX4+ SL is the only four-pot brake caliper for road bikes. It offers more power, improved heat management and improved modulation. Hence, these brakes are usually found as offerings for downhill and enduro mountain bike use.
Both the RX4+ and RX2 are precision CNC-machined in a single piece from high-grade aluminium billet. This monobloc design is claimed to creates a stiffer caliper, improving lever feel and eliminating brake rub.
The new RX4+ SL and RX2 are available in both mineral oil and DOT fluid versions. This makes them compatible across the board with Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo groupsets. They come in an array of colours, too: Black, Blue, Orange, Purple, Red, Silver and Smoke.
The RX4+ SL brakes will be available from March, priced at £115 / $160 / €144.50.
The Python bitwise-inversion (or complement) operator, “~“, behaves
pretty much as expected when it is applied to integers—it toggles every
bit, from one
to zero and vice versa. It might be expected that applying the
operator to a non-integer, a bool
for example, would raise a TypeError, but, because the
bool type is really an int
in disguise, the complement operator is allowed, at least for now. For
nearly 15 years (and perhaps longer), there have been discussions about the
oddity of that behavior and whether it should be changed. Eventually,
that resulted in the “feature” being deprecated, producing a warning, with removal slated for
Python 3.16 (due October 2027). That has led to some reconsideration and the
deprecation may itself be deprecated.
The impact of AI datacenters on hosting and hardware costs have made maintaining the site unsustainable, its founder said
The world’s largest automaker has had a somewhat difficult relationship with battery-electric vehicles. Toyota was an early pioneer of hybrid powertrains, and it remains a fan today, often saying that given limited battery supply, it makes sense to build more hybrids than fewer EVs. Its first full BEV had a rocky start, suffering a recall due to improperly attached wheels just as the cars were hitting showrooms. Reviews for the awkwardly named bZ4x were mixed; the car did little to stand out among the competition.
Toyota didn’t get to be the world’s largest automaker by being completely blind to feedback, and last year, it gave its EV platform (called -TNGA and shared with Lexus and Subaru) a bit of a spiff-up. To start, it simplified the name—the small electric SUV is now just called the bZ. It uses a new 74.7 kWh battery pack, available with either front- or all-wheel drive powertrains that now use silicon carbide power electronics. And for the North American market, instead of a CCS1 port just behind the front passenger wheel, you’ll now see a Tesla-style NACS socket.
Our test bZ was the $37,900 XLE FWD Plus, which has the most range of any bZ at 314 miles (505 km) according to the EPA test cycle. When you realize that the pre-facelift version managed just 252 miles (405 km) with 71.4 kWh onboard, the scale of the improvement becomes clear.
Officially known as PMR 1, this nebula is a planetary shroud of gas and dust located roughly 5,000 light-years
As-is, Sony first-party exclusives already trend toward a delay of at least a year before a PC port releases, making most titles merely timed
Last year, Google’s Gemini AI took a major step forward in image generation with the launch of its Nano Banana upgrade—perhaps as much due to its quirky codename as its impressive capabilities—and now the next iteration is here. Nano Banana 2 is another notable upgrade for AI image-making, and it’s currently rolling out to all Gemini users.
Nano Banana 2 is a combination of the original Nano Banana and the Pro version that followed a few months later. It’s essentially Nano Banana Pro at faster speeds, as noted in Google’s announcement, though Nano Banana Pro is also sticking around for those on Plus, Pro, and Ultra plans for situations where detail and accuracy matters more than speed.
If you’re keeping track of the underlying, technical names for these models, Nano Banana is “Gemini 2.5 Flash Image,” Nano Banana Pro is “Gemini 3 Pro Image,” and Nano Banana 2 is “Gemini 3.1 Flash Image” (reflecting the upgraded capabilities, at “flash” speed).
Nano Banana 2 has inherited much of the feature-set of Nano Banana Pro, bringing with it advanced world knowledge (so you can add in real time information like weather forecasts), and accurate and legible text (often a failing of early AI image models). Google is also talking up its subject consistency, ability to follow detailed instructions, aspect ratio and resolution control, and visual fidelity.
While Nano Banana 2 is now available for all users, there are usage limits, as you would expect. You can create 20 images a day if you’re not on any subscription, 50 images a day as an AI Plus subscriber, 100 images a day with AI Pro, and 1,000 images a day with AI Ultra. (Google does caution that “limits may change frequently” based on demand).
You’ll see Nano Banana 2 replacing Nano Banana Pro pretty much everywhere you use Gemini, including in AI Mode for search and Google Lens. As always, generated pictures will be marked with Google’s SynthID technology that tags images as AI-made.
Picking apart what’s actually changed here isn’t all that easy, but essentially, free users previously had very limited access to Nano Banana Pro—sometimes as few as one or two generations a day, depending on general demand. Thanks to the improved efficiency of Nano Banana 2, these users can now create many more pictures with a model that almost matches the quality of Pro (at least until Google tweaks the usage limits again).
For paying users, Nano Banana Pro remains available, though Nano Banana 2 will be the default. That shows that Pro is still slightly better (if slower), and Google talks about it being more suitable for “high-fidelity tasks requiring maximum factual accuracy” and where “additional detail” is required.
All of which is to say, once you start testing out Nano Banana 2, you might not think it seems massively different to Nano Banana Pro—you’ll just get your picture back more quickly. I’ve been putting the new model through its paces with a variety of different prompts, and it certainly impresses, even if it’s not yet at the stage where its results are flawless every time.
TO start, select Create image in the Gemini app and you’ll see there’s a new template feature available: You can pick from presets like Gothic clay or Oil painting and then add to the prompt, or just type out a prompt from scratch as normal. As before, you can also create a starting image (or multiple images) for Gemini to work from, via the + (plus) button.
If you are signed up for Gemini’s AI Plus, AI Pro, or AI Ultra plans, once Nano Banana 2 has rendered your picture, you can tap or click on the three dots underneath it and choose Redo with Pro to get the same prompt rendered again with the aid of the extra thinking power of Nano Banana Pro (though this does seem to somehow delete the image template, if you selected one).
In one of my tests, I asked Gemini to produce a papercraft style weather forecast for New York—making use of image generation, real time information, and text rendering—and it completed the task well, using both Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro. The two models came up with quite different but equally high-quality results. As expected, the Pro model offered slightly more detail.
I also asked tested out landscape painting and infographic creation, and even had it make a comic strip charting the opening moments of Bleak House by Charles Dickens (one for the copyright lawyers to look into). The end results were mostly impressive across the board, with text and graphics that were accurate, styles that matched the instructions, and few errors.
These models aren’t perfect. Words are occasionally misspelled, the physics of images are occasionally wonky (AI still can’t faithfully recreate the real world), and these graphics still have the generic feel of something that’s been trained on lots and lots of previous content, rather than something that’s actually original.
It’s difficult to compare Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro directly, as obviously the prompt gets redone from scratch each time, so you get something original when you pick Redo with Pro rather than a tweak of the first image you had. Overall, it does feel as though Pro still has the edge in terms of quality and subtle touches, but in certain cases I preferred what Nano Banana 2 served up.
After plenty of test runs, it feels as though the biggest gain right now is in the way Gemini can pull information from the web (like weather conditions or specific details) to create imagery. These models are also getting better at working in different styles, and leaving behind fewer and fewer giveaways that the pictures were made by AI. How you feel about that will vary from person to person, of course.
Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed a revised bid by Paramount Skydance to be a superior offer. From a report: Earlier this week, Paramount raised its bid to buy the entirety of WBD to $31 per share, up from $30 per share, all cash. It was the latest amendment to Paramount’s multiple offers in recent months — and since moving forward with a hostile bid to buy the company — and it’s now unseated a deal between WBD and Netflix to sell the legacy media company’s studio and streaming businesses for $27.75 per share.
Last week, Netflix granted WBD a seven-day waiver to reengage with Paramount, resulting in the higher bid. Paramount’s offer is for the entirety of WBD, including its pay-TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and TNT. Netflix had four business days to make changes to its own proposal in light of Paramount’s superior bid, the WBD board said in a statement Thursday. Instead, the decision by the streaming giant to walk away puts a pin in a drawn-out saga that saw amended offers from both bidders.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Switch 2 games are coming in 2027
Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary today, and as you’d expect, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are cranking up the nostalgia in every possible way. In addition to re-releasing the Game Boy Advance remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue on Nintendo Switch Online, they’re also selling us a Game Boy-shaped portable Pokémon jukebox.
Officially titled the Pokémon Game Music Collection, the little music player is palm-sized and can be loaded up with 45 different cartridges, each featuring a different melody or sound effect from the original games’ soundtrack. The device was announced by longtime series composer Junichi Masuda during today’s anniversary Pokémon Presents livestream, where he said that special care has gone into the audio sounding like it did on the Game Boy.
Each cartridge also features a screenshot from the games, so when you slide it into the device’s display slot it looks like you’re playing as well as listening. Put one of these next to last year’s equally charming Lego Game Boy on a shelf and you’ve got two entirely non-playable replicas of the iconic handheld, which is sure to confuse and disappoint your guests in equal measure.
The Pokémon Game Music Collection is available to buy from Pokémon Center starting today, but US pricing is yet to be confirmed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/celebrate-pokemons-30th-anniversary-with-this-game-boy-shaped-music-player-154644225.html?src=rss
For those looking to build a rackmount-ready server or workstation that can handle up to an SSI-EEB motherboard and capable of fitting a large liquid cooling setup, the RM4A is a new option from SilverStone that can fit up to a 360mm radiator while still fitting an SSI-EEB motherboard and up to eight expansion slots within 4U size constraints.
Starting with the
Pombon is already a Gen 10 favorite as Pikachu gets ready to retire to Florida
They might not be all that original, but they’re each going to be loved
Amazon’s upcoming live-action God of War series looks uh, hmmmm, not great
The Pokémon leakers were right: the Gen 10 games are called Pokémon Wind and Pokémon Waves. The Pokémon Company confirmed the titles during a 30th anniversary stream on Pokémon Day. The games are set to hit Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. (A Game Freak leak last October suggested Wind and Waves would be out this year with DLC to follow in 2027.)
According to the Pokémon account on X, in Wind and Waves, “you’ll travel across beautiful windswept islands and a vast ocean with glittering waves that ebb and flow. You’ll also team up with Pokémon to overcome challenges and even the forces of nature!” They’ll be playable in 11 languages, including Brazilian Portuguese.
Introducing the first partner Pokémon from #PokemonWindsWaves!
Say hello to Browt �, Pombon �, and Gecqua �. Who will you partner with on this adventure, Trainers? pic.twitter.com/UfKtE5lszu
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 27, 2026
A trailer for the two games revealed the three new starter Pokémon: Browt, Pombon and Gecqua. As suggested by their colors and environments they’re shown in, they are grass, fire and water types, respectively. Other Pokémon that were featured include Pikachu (sporting fetching beachwear) and Oddish. The trailer, which reveals a new region for the series, ends by taking us into the ocean to gawk at an number of water Pokémon.
The Pokémon Presents stream on Friday included updates for many other games in the franchise, including the battle-focused Pokémon Champions (a modern spin on the likes of Pokémon Stadium). That will debut on Nintendo Switch in April before arriving on iOS and Android later this year. Cross-play will be available between the three platforms. It was also confirmed that Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness will hit the GameCube library on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on Switch 2 in March.
Pokémon Day marks the 30th anniversary of the series’ debut with the 1996 release of Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green (later released as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in the West) on Game Boy in Japan. The games were remade for GameBoy Advance in 2004 as Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version. Starting today, those are available on Switch and Switch 2 for $20 each. Meanwhile, Pokémon Pokopia, a cozy life sim spin-off, will hit Switch 2 on March 5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-winds-and-waves-are-coming-to-switch-2-in-2027-152248895.html?src=rss
