Several Linux distributions are restricting access from Brazil due to concerns about a new digital law impacting online software distribution.
Ubuntu’s Snap Affected By Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Last week it was security issues with AppArmor to worry about on Ubuntu Linux while this week a “high” rated vulnerability for Ubuntu’s Snap daemon has been revealed…
FBI Is Buying Location Data To Track US Citizens, Director Confirms
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The FBI has resumed purchasing reams of Americans’ data and location histories to aid federal investigations, the agency’s director, Kash Patel, testified to lawmakers on Wednesday. This is the first time since 2023 that the FBI has confirmed it was buying access to people’s data collected from data brokers, who source much of their information — including location data — from ordinary consumer phone apps and games, per Politico. At the time, then-FBI director Christopher Wray told senators that the agency had bought access to people’s location data in the past but that it was not actively purchasing it.
When asked by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans’ location data, Patel said that the agency “uses all tools … to do our mission.” “We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act — and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel testified Wednesday. Wyden said buying information on Americans without obtaining a warrant was an “outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment,” referring to the constitutional law that protects people in America from device searches and data seizures.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Java 26 Released With HTTP 3 Support and Performance Gains
Java 26 is now available, featuring HTTP/3 support, enhanced G1 garbage collector performance, faster JVM startup, and new APIs.
[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for March 19, 2026
Inside this week’s LWN.net Weekly Edition:
- Front: Privacy battles; page-cache-timing protections; null filesystems; Fedora Sandbox; safer kmalloc(); BPF in io_uring.
- Briefs: AppArmor vulnerabilities; snapd vulnerability; Sashiko; DPL election; Fedora Asahi 43; GIMP 3.2; Marknote 1.5; Quotes; …
- Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
Cursor for LibreOffice Week 2&3 (AI agents and voice)
I’ve been calling this project Cursor for LibreOffice to myself, but I knew I couldn’t use the name forever, so I researched and chose WriterAgent. It supports Calc, and Draw as well, but I didn’t like OfficeAgent, which sounds like some Soviet-era KGB job title.
Crimson Desert Reviews Hail It As A Gorgeous And Impressive But Bland And Often Flawed Open-World Blockbuster
The initial reviews don’t match some of the early hype
The FBI confirms it’s buying Americans’ location data
During a Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that his agency has bought information that could be used to track individuals’ movement and location. “We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” he said.
Law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant in order to get location data from cell service providers following the Carpenter v United States ruling from 2018. But why bother with all that hassle when they can just buy the information from the open market?
“Doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the Fourth Amendment, it’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information,” Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.) said during the Intelligence Committee hearing. Wyden is one of several lawmakers pushing for an overhaul of when and how the government can obtain citizens’ personal information.
It’s an overhaul that’s badly needed. Patel already has a history of dubious use of government resources, such as ordering SWAT protections for his girlfriend and somehow horning in on men’s hockey victory celebrations at the recent winter Olympics, so one would hope he’s not also stretching the limits of the few privacy protections that do exist. Then outside the FBI, we have the Department of Homeland Security being sued for illegally tracking immigration raid protestors and the Pentagon’s labeling of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk after the AI company refused to let its products be used for mass surveillance of Americans.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fbi-confirms-its-buying-americans-location-data-230835196.html?src=rss
A Meta agentic AI sparked a security incident by acting without permission
The Information reported that an AI agent within Meta took unauthorized action that led to an employee creating a security breach at the social company last week. According to the publication, an employee used an in-house agentic AI to analyze a query from a second employee on an internal forum. The AI agent posted a response to the second employee with advice even though the first person did not direct it to do so.
The second employee took the agent’s recommended action, sparking a domino effect that led to some engineers having access to Meta systems that they shouldn’t have permission to see. A representative from the company confirmed the incident to The Information and said that “no user data was mishandled.” Meta’s internal report indicated that there were unspecified additional issues that led to the breach. A source said that there was no evidence that anyone took advantage of the sudden access or that the data was made public during the two hours when the security breach was active. However, that may be the result of dumb luck more than anything else.
Many tech leaders and companies have touted the benefits of artificial intelligence, this is just the latest incident where human employees have lost control over an AI agent. Amazon Web Services experienced a 13-hour outage earlier this year that also (apparently coincidentally) involved its Kiro agentic AI coding tool. Moltbook, the social network for AI agents recently acquired by Meta, had a security flaw that exposed user information thanks to an oversight in the vibe-coded platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/a-meta-agentic-ai-sparked-a-security-incident-by-acting-without-permission-224013384.html?src=rss
Unseen Diplomacy 2 Review: Spy Versus Spy In Roomscale VR
Unseen Diplomacy 2 makes excellent use of roomscale play that’s let down by a finicky inventory system and a few unpolished details.
Unseen Diplomacy 2’s big party trick is “Environmental Redirection,” a roomscale design system that has players physically walking around their real-world space while the game subtly changes the environment around them. The result is that the player feels as if they’re moving through a massive continuous level without requiring a massive real-world play space. And it (mostly) works.
After setting up a roomscale boundary in-game, and once the game confirmed this boundary to be large enough to suit, I spent the next few days jumping into and out of underground bunkers, maximum-security mansions, and bases of insidious villains across the globe without ever leaving my home office.
The Facts
What is it?: A unique roomscale espionage game with fun gadgets and full-body immersion.
Platforms: Meta Quest, Steam
Release Date: March 16, 2026
Developer: Triangular Pixels
Publisher: Triangular Pixels
Price: $18.99
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Unseen Diplomacy 2 gameplay clips captured by UploadVR
Design and Mechanics
Unseen Diplomacy 2’s game field is presented as a honeycomb map, where players select individual missions involving espionage, infiltration, and other covert ops. In one stage you might be tasked with finding a stolen artifact from an ancient civilization, while another might have you hacking a terminal to disable a super-villain’s nano-bots.
The game’s overall objective is multifaceted; you’ll need to clear individual missions to acquire intel, then use that intel to uncover the location of the game’s final showdown. Reach that space before the countdown timer reaches “Zero Days Until Armageddon” and you earn your chance to save the world.
Traversing these stages demands constant physical movement, and this physicality is the core of Unseen Diplomacy 2’s gameplay. You’ll duck through crawlspaces, sidle along narrow ledges, squeeze into hiding spots, and scamper up and down ladders and ropes. At the same time, you’re sneaking past cameras and patrol bots, hacking security systems, and avoiding deadly traps such as spinning saw blades and swinging axes.
It’s worth noting that the game doesn’t strictly require roomscale play, nor excessive physical movements. There are plenty of accessibility and comfort options, such as thumbstick movement, snap-turning, button-based crouching, and even seated play. These alternative controls work reasonably well, but they also introduce a level of jank that makes the experience noticeably more tedious.
Your espionage is aided through a suite of gadgets and tools. Screwdrivers allow you to unscrew grates to access vents, or open panels to remove batteries from the security system. Wire cutters allow you to snip cables and shut down electrical systems. A blow dart helps you disable enemy patrol bots and cameras. And there’s plenty more.
Visually, Unseen Diplomacy 2 uses a bold, comic-inspired art style that will remind older gamers of the cel-shaded games of the early 2000s (XIII and Jet Set Radio). Thick, black outlines, flat colors, and exaggerated designs fit well, bringing vibrancy and life to the game’s heightened Cold-War world of secret agents and cartoonish spies.
Audio design is strong, with a soundtrack throwing back to that same Cold-War era. Horns swoon in spy motif, sneaky twangs tip-toe in your ears, while crunchy analog tech clicks, whirrs, and rattles.
The intriguing game design, interesting roomscale controls, and pleasing audio-visuals combine so that, at its best, Unseen Diplomacy 2 feels like a perfect spy fantasy. You’re not just playing a game, you’re physically sneaking, ducking and working your way through a stealthy adventure, gathering intel to save the world from certain annihilation. There’s a real thrill in that, especially early on, when each new mission feels like a fresh test of your spatial awareness, wit, and dexterity.
Diplomatic Faux Pas
The longer you play, the more the cracks begin to show. Most egregious is a general lack of polish that manifests in ways that are hard to ignore. While the core tech of Unseen Diplomacy 2, its environmental redirection and procedurally generated mission spaces, is extremely cool and works as advertised, and while movement itself feels engaging and fun, several systems layered on top of that foundation don’t always work.
The inventory system is a constant source of frustration. Tools are awkwardly mounted to your chest, wrist, and shoulders, and retrieving or storing them often feels imprecise. In theory, this physicality enhances immersion. In practice, I dropped my screwdriver more often than I used it.
Simple actions can feel clumsy while others are outright broken. Wire cutters jitter in midair, while your main offensive tool, a blow dart gun, often fails to fire for no discernible reason. And these aren’t just occasional hiccups. The problems happen frequently enough to really disrupt the flow of play.
Halfway through my first mission, it was very clear that a more traditional inventory system would have been far more effective (especially considering the inventory tools are generally pretty fun to use, when they work).
Hacking terminals can also feel tedious. These mini-games play out like the classic game Pong or Breakout, where you must bounce a ball to eliminate blocks. It’s an interesting idea that falls a bit flat, since we have to physically interact with the buttons on the terminal to move our paddle, which can be finicky.
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Unseen Diplomacy 2 gameplay clips captured by UploadVR
And then there are the more unforgivable game-breaking issues. In the few days I spent playtesting, there were several instances where levels extended beyond my established roomscale boundary in ways that the system simply could not reconcile. In a few instances this left me unable to physically progress through the mission, soft-locking me so that I had to fully reset. This is especially frustrating in a game built around immersion. When the illusion breaks, it’s hard to justify climbing back in.
Mission design also can become overly familiar, with much of the experience boiling down to squeezing through tight spaces, searching drawers or panels, retrieving some object or another, and then moving on through the uncanny environment. The structure doesn’t evolve enough, so that what begins as a novel experience gradually begins to feel like a series of procedurally generated chores.
This impression wouldn’t be quite so unfortunate, if only the game’s other systems worked perfectly. If the inventory system was better, if the environmental interaction was more polished and direct, I’d be happy to spend far more time in the game’s neat environments, be they repetitive or not.
Comfort
Unseen Diplomacy 2 features full roomscale play, plus accessibility and comfort options such as thumbstick movement, snap-turning, button-based crouching, and seated play.
Unseen Diplomacy 2 – Final Verdict
All things considered, there’s something undeniably clever about Unseen Diplomacy 2. When it all comes together, when a mission is particularly interesting and the gadgets all work and the procedurally-generated levels don’t back us into a corner, it delivers a kind of immersion that few games can match.
But the delivery of those moments is inconsistent. The lack of polish in key systems makes it difficult to fully recommend in its current state. With a couple of patches, who knows? As it stands, Unseen Diplomacy 2 is a fun diversion, one that’s just a step or two away from being truly great.
Unseen Diplomacy 2 is available now on Meta Quest and Steam.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
Kagi Translate’s AI answers the question “What would horny Margaret Thatcher say?”
If you’ve been using the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably used a tool like Google Translate to convert webpages or snippets of text to and from languages ranging from Uzbek to Esperanto. But what if you want to translate into more esoteric “languages” like “LinkedIn Speak,” “Gen Z slang,” or “horny Margaret Thatcher”?
This week, many people across the Internet have been bemused to find that the AI-powered Kagi Translate can perform these and countless other unlikely “translation” tasks. And while the collective discovery highlights the playful, creative side of large language models, it also exposes the risks of letting users play with generalized LLM tools.
What is a “language,” really?
While you might know Kagi best as the paid competitor to Google’s ever-worsening search product, the company launched its Kagi Translate tool back in 2024, saying at the time that it was a “simply better” competitor to tools like Google Translate and DeepL. At launch, the company said Kagi Translate “uses a combination of LLMs, selecting and optimizing the best output for each task,” a fact that “can occasionally lead to quirks that we’re actively working to resolve.”
Meta Has Announced the End of the Metaverse, and I’m a Little Sad
In a post on its community blog today, Meta announced the timeline for the shutdown of Horizon Worlds for VR users. The Horizon Worlds app and related Events will disappear from Quest headsets by March 31, and VR users will no longer be able to use the social hub at all after June 15, 2026. Horizon Worlds will continue, Meta says, but only for mobile users.
“We are separating the two platforms so each can grow with greater focus, and the Horizon Worlds platform will become a mobile-only experience,” the company explained in the post. “This separation will extend across our ecosystem, including our mobile app.”
Horizon Worlds launched in 2021 as a VR-only platform where users could interact in a virtual space, but it was beset by early tech and design limitations (most famously, that user’s Metaverse avatars didn’t have legs). Still, at the time, the company hoped the Metaverse would ultimately attract over a billion users, and Horizon Worlds was seen as an integral part of it. Obviously, that didn’t happen—at its peak, Horizon Worlds‘ monthly user count was only around 200,000.
What happens to users’ digital purchases and creations?
Long-time Horizon Worlds users are surely asking what will happen to their in-world digital items. The good news is that your Worlds-specific purchases and creations won’t instantly be wiped; Meta says your digital items or currency will remain tied to your account. The bad news is you’ll only be able to access them through the mobile app in “mobile-optimized” worlds, so if a creator hasn’t updated their world for mobile, your items there may effectively become inaccessible.
After June 15, you will no longer be able to build or edit worlds in VR. Meta is encouraging the use of their web-based tools, but the immersive building experience that defined the platform is officially ending.
Meta is shifting focus from VR to AI
The change is part of an overall strategy shift from Meta, which will be funneling more resources into AI and smart glasses. In January, Meta shuttered its AAA VR game development companies, stopped updating its first-party subscription-based fitness app Supernatural, and laid off 1,500 people from its VR-division Reality Labs.
Even given all that, though, Meta says it’s not pulling out of the VR game altogether. In a blog post on Feb. 19, Samantha Ryan, the vice president of content for Reality Labs, promised Meta was “doubling down on VR,” but is nevertheless moving away from first-party development to focus on hardware, supporting third-party developers, and adding features to the Quest itself. “It’s no secret that we’re still in the hardware game,” Ryan wrote. “We have a robust roadmap of future VR headsets that will be tailored to different audience segments as the market grows and matures.”
The kinda sad end of Horizon Worlds
I poked around Horizon Worlds for when I got my Quest 3 headset a few years ago. “Oh, I can decorate a little house or meet people” I thought; then I logged out and never went back—I have a real house I can decorate, and I use VR because I don’t like people. But a few months ago, when it became clear that Meta was pulling away from the VR space it created, I got curious, strapped on the face computer, dusted off the old avatar, and went on a Horizon Worlds safari. I’m glad I did.
Going to Horizon Worlds feels eerie. It’s like visiting someone else’s dreams—specifically Mark Zuckerberg’s dream and the sub-dreams of Worlds’ volunteer creators. “The defining quality of the metaverse will be a feeling of presence…Feeling truly present with another person is the ultimate dream of social technology. That is why we are focused on building this,” Mark Zuckerberg said at Connect 2021, and he believed it enough to spend billions (maybe as much $25 billion) on his dream word, where nothing ever gets dusty and everyone is an endlessly smiling cartoon ready to funnel actual money to The Overseer for the latest digital sneakers.
Then there are the thousands of creators who spent countless hours building more than 10,000 worlds you can visit—nightclubs, basketball stadiums, restaurants, etc., though they’re almost all empty. As flashy as it looks, no one is lined up at the digital nightclub’s velvet rope. Horizon Worlds is a gigantic dead mall, a capitalist cathedral with no congregation, the ultimate liminal space.
A vibe that strange is enough reason to visit, but there’s a genuine side to Worlds too. I eventually found a world where people conquered the unsettling nature of VR and created a real community. The Soapstone Comedy club is not huge, but it’s thriving, and it’s one of many spots where small groups have gathered in Horizon Worlds. There are conversation pits people use to meet up, nightly planned comedy shows, and a collection of friendly regulars to chat with. It grew from the ground up, too, just as Zuck predicted. Okay, the comedy is rarely funny. But the people are good.
Some Soapstoners are housebound and handicapped, and VR gives them opportunities the real world denies them. Some seem like weirdos who probably have trouble finding real life friends who can’t mute them at will. And some are regular people blowing off some steam after work. I’m sad for all of them—a comedy club on a phone screen just isn’t the same. So before the digital wrecking ball takes down the hang-out spots of all Horizon Worlds‘ remaining residents, you should stop in and say hi. There’s not much time left.
Google Is Trying To Make ‘Vibe Design’ Happen
With today’s latest Stitch updates, Google is trying to make “vibe design” happen, reports The Verge’s Jay Peters. The AI-native design platform encourages users to describe goals, feelings, or inspiration in “natural language,” rather than starting with traditional blueprints.
In a blog post, Google Labs Product Manager Rustin Banks says that Stitch can turn those inputs into interactive prototypes, automatically map user flows, and support real-time iteration. It introduces voice capabilities that allow users to “speak directly to [the] canvas” for feedback or changes. Tools like DESIGN.md also help users create reusable design systems across various projects.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tomb Raider Studio Faces Fourth Round Of Layoffs In Just 12 Months
Crystal Dynamics is cutting another 20 people from its team
Big Trouble In Little China Gets The Honest Trailers Treatment
Because it’s all in the reflexes, this is the heavily requested Screen Junkies honest trailer for Big Trouble In Little China. It’s over six minutes long though, which is 1/20th of the entire movie. Not that I’m complaining, I could quote Big Trouble In Little China all day. And do most days. My girlfriend doesn’t always like it, but *shrug* sooner or later I rub everybody the wrong way. “Nothing or double?” The check is in the mail.
Musk’s tactic of blaming users for Grok sex images may be foiled by EU law
The European Union may soon ban nudify apps after Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok emerged as a prime example of the dangers of an AI platform failing to block outputs that sexualized images of real people, including children.
In a joint press release, the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Civil Liberties committees confirmed that lawmakers voted 101–9 (with 8 abstentions) to simplify the Artificial Intelligence Act and “propose bans on AI ‘nudifier’ systems.”
The vote came after the European Commission concluded earlier this year that the AI Act does not prohibit “AI systems that generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or sexually explicit deepfake nudes.” At that time, the Commission signaled that Parliament members were already proposing ways to amend the law to strengthen protections against such harmful content.
Coal plant forced to stay open due to emergency order isn’t even running
In the US, the economics of coal power generation are marginal at best, and a large number of coal plants have shut down as cheaper renewables and natural gas have surged. The Trump administration has used a number of methods to swim against this economic tide, the simplest of which has been to order plants scheduled for closure to remain operational.
The Department of Energy has used the Federal Power Act and a Trump executive order declaring an energy emergency to block the closure of coal plants nationwide. The orders requiring plants to stay open have been accompanied by a steady stream of triumphal press releases, suggesting that the Department of Energy was taking the step solely to ensure grid reliability.
The latest of these releases, issued on Monday, pertains to a plant in Centralia, Washington, that was scheduled to close last year to be converted into national gas generation. A Department of Energy emergency order had kept it operational over the winter, but that order was set to expire yesterday. With yesterday’s new order, the plant will remain operational through mid-June. According to the press release, the action was taken “to ensure Americans in the Northwestern region of the United States have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity.”
New Windows 11 Bug Breaks Samsung PCs, Blocking Access To C: Drive
Longtime Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes: Users of Samsung PCs are reporting the inability to access the C: drive after the Windows 11 February update. The bug seems to be in connection with the Samsung Galaxy Connect app, which allows Samsung phones and tablets to connect to Windows machines. [A previous stable version of the app has been re-released to prevent this problem from spreading.] This parody explains the situation with humor. The issue stems from update KB5077181 and is impacting Samsung PCs running Windows 11 25H2 or 24H2. Microsoft and Samsung have confirmed the issue and published a workaround, but as PCWorld notes, it will take some time. The workaround “requires removing the Samsung application, then asking Windows to repair the drive permissions and assigning a new owner, then restoring the Windows default permissions, including patching in some custom code that Microsoft wrote.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AI for software developers is in a ‘dangerous state’
Strong forces tempting humans out of the AI loop, and reducing the experience needed to supervise and reviewQCon London AI is in a dangerous state where it is too useful not to use, but where by using it, developers are giving up the experience they need to review what it does, said a speaker at QCon London, a vendor-neutral developer conference underway this week.…
Never mind Band-Aids, Neanderthals had antiseptic birch tar
Neanderthals may have used birch tar as more than just glue; it could have helped them ward off infection and even insect bites.
People from several modern Indigenous cultures, including the Mi’kmaq of eastern Canada, use tar from birch bark to treat skin infections and keep wounds from festering. We know from several archaeological sites that Neanderthals also knew how to extract birch tar and that they used it as an adhesive to haft weapons. A recent study tested distilled birch tar against the bacteria S. aureleus and E. coli and found that Neanderthals could easily have used the same material as medicine for their frequent injuries.
This is the simplest step-by-step tutorial for making birch tar: find a tree, set some bark on fire, get messy hands.
Credit:
Tjaark Siemssen, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Medicine can be messy
What we call “birch tar” in English has a lot of other names in multiple Indigenous languages, and it can range from an oily fluid to a brittle, almost solid tarry resin, depending on how long you heat it in the open air after extracting it from the bark. The Mi’kmaq of eastern Canada prefer the more fluid version, which they call maskwio’mi, for wound dressings and skin ointment.