Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Global Plastics Treaty Talks Collapse: Is Consensus Dead?

2025-08-16

Nine days of talks in Geneva on a global plastics treaty ended without an agreement. Major disagreements arose over the final draft, particularly with oil-producing nations opposing legally binding obligations and controls on plastic production. Negotiations stalled as countries reiterated previous positions, ultimately failing to reach a deal. While all parties expressed interest in continued negotiations, the future remains uncertain unless the decision-making process changes. Environmental groups are disappointed but praise nations for prioritizing a strong treaty over a weak one.

(e360.yale.edu)

Tech international treaty

Google's AI Overviews: Publishers Cry Foul Over Traffic Plunge

2025-08-16

Google's AI Overviews feature is causing a significant drop in search referral traffic for publishers. A Digital Content Next (DCN) survey reveals a 10% year-over-year decline in Google search referral traffic across its member sites, with news sites seeing a 7% drop and non-news sites a 14% decrease. Publishers blame AI Overviews for reduced click-through rates and have submitted evidence to regulators, demanding action against Google. While some publishers are adapting through stronger branding and SEO, many feel trapped unless the Department of Justice forces Google to separate its AI crawler from its search crawler.

(digiday.com)

Tech

Korean Educational Sharing Platform Yubin Archive Shut Down After Operator's Arrest

2025-08-16

Yubin Archive, a Telegram-based platform in South Korea aiming to eliminate educational inequality, provided access to educational materials like textbooks, workbooks, and video lectures. Boasting over 330,000 members, its popularity quickly led to the arrest of its operator for copyright infringement. While Yubin Archive claimed to help underprivileged students, investigations revealed a paid "minority channel," raising questions about its motives. The Ministry of Culture and Sports vowed to continue cracking down on copyright infringement to protect creators' rights.

(torrentfreak.com)

Tech

Kiwi Exodus: Record Number of New Zealanders Emigrating Amidst Economic Downturn

2025-08-16

New Zealand is experiencing its highest level of emigration in 13 years, with over a third of those leaving being under 30. High unemployment and sluggish economic growth are driving the exodus. Data shows 71,800 New Zealand citizens departed in the year to June 2025, a 13-year high. Analysts blame the downturn on low productivity and policy failures. While the Reserve Bank has cut interest rates, unemployment remains high, and the cost of living is pushing many to seek opportunities elsewhere. Australia, among other countries, is actively recruiting skilled New Zealanders.

(www.yahoo.com)

Tech New Zealand emigration population outflow

Global EV Sales Surge 27%, Legacy Automakers Race to Electrify

2025-08-16

Global electric vehicle (EV) sales surged 27% year-over-year in the first seven months of 2025, reaching over 10.7 million units. China led the charge, while Europe also saw robust 30% growth. North America lagged, with the US facing policy headwinds. Data from the UK reveals a dramatic shift, with legacy automakers like Ford significantly boosting EV sales – a 324% increase for Ford in the first half of 2025. Ford's ambitious $5 billion plan to produce affordable EVs in the US, targeting a $30,000 price point, signals a major push towards electric mobility. However, not all legacy automakers are experiencing similar success, highlighting the challenges of this transition.

(cleantechnica.com)

Tech

AI-Generated Deepfakes Flood YouTube: A New Battleground for Misinformation

2025-08-16

YouTube is awash with AI-generated fake interview videos, some mimicking the voices and appearances of celebrities, raising public concerns. These videos often feature controversial topics to incite outrage and sharing, thereby generating traffic and revenue. Creators leverage AI to lower content production barriers and amplify reach through duplication and multi-channel publishing. While some creators claim the videos are fictional, their purpose isn't purely artistic, but rather economically driven. This highlights the information security risks posed by AI misuse and the challenges of platform regulation.

(www.wired.com)

Tech

Altman's New Brain-Computer Interface Venture: Gene Editing and Ultrasound

2025-08-16

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is involved in a brain-computer interface company, Merge Labs, exploring a novel approach combining gene therapy and ultrasound. The method involves genetically modifying brain cells and using an implanted ultrasound device to detect and modulate activity in these cells. This differs from Elon Musk's Neuralink, which uses electrical signals. Altman aims to use this technology to control ChatGPT with his thoughts. The project is in early stages, seeking $250 million in funding at an $850 million valuation.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

Open Hardware's Demise: How China's Patent Strategy is Stifling 3D Printing Innovation

2025-08-16

A Hacker News post exposes a concerning trend: China's strategic use of patents to stifle open-source 3D printing hardware. Numerous Chinese companies leverage 'super deduction' policies to file patents on minor variations of existing technologies, effectively creating a patent minefield for smaller open-source projects. The high cost and time commitment of fighting these patents, even with prior art, puts open-source initiatives at a severe disadvantage. The author calls for the open-source community to unite and proactively monitor patent filings to protect the future of open hardware.

(www.josefprusa.com)

Tech China patents

Arm Neural Graphics: Bringing PC-Quality AI to Mobile

2025-08-16

Arm announced its groundbreaking neural graphics technology at SIGGRAPH, integrating dedicated neural accelerators into Arm GPUs for the first time, bringing PC-quality AI-powered graphics to mobile devices. The first application is Neural Super Sampling (NSS), capable of 2x resolution upscaling in just 4ms per frame. An open development kit is available now, featuring an Unreal Engine plugin, emulators, and open-source models, allowing developers to build AI-driven rendering applications immediately. This technology not only enhances mobile gaming visuals but also extends to applications like neural camera workloads, paving the way for future on-device AI innovation.

(newsroom.arm.com)

Tech Mobile Graphics

ADHD Medication Linked to Reduced Risk of Suicide, Substance Abuse, and Crime

2025-08-16

A target trial emulation study using Swedish national register data found that ADHD medication was associated with lower rates of suicidal behaviors, substance misuse, transport accidents, and criminality over two years. While the reduction wasn't statistically significant for first-time accidental injuries, recurrent events of all five outcomes showed significant decreases. This large-scale study provides compelling evidence supporting the beneficial effects of ADHD medication beyond core symptom relief.

(www.bmj.com)

Tech Medication

Subsea Desalination: A Deep Dive into Solving the World's Water Crisis

2025-08-16

Facing a looming global water shortage, several companies are pioneering subsea desalination – a technology that leverages deep-ocean pressure to desalinate seawater more efficiently and sustainably than traditional methods. While cost and environmental impact remain hurdles, companies like Flocean are developing large-scale projects, promising a potential solution for city-wide water supply in the future. Further research into environmental impact and achieving cost parity with other sources remains crucial for widespread adoption.

(www.scientificamerican.com)

Tech desalination deep sea technology water scarcity

UK Online Safety Act: Not Primarily for Child Protection

2025-08-15

A blog post reveals that the UK Online Safety Act, as admitted in a recent High Court case, wasn't primarily designed to protect children but to regulate "services that have a significant influence over public discourse." This suggests the act's true aim may be controlling online information flow, not solely child safety.

(bsky.app)

Tech UK Law Public Discourse

Record-Breaking Cosmic Neutrino Detected Deep Under the Mediterranean

2025-08-15

The KM3NeT detector, located deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea, has detected a cosmic neutrino with an unprecedented energy of 220 PeV, shattering the previous record. After rigorous analysis, the detection was confirmed, but its origin remains a mystery. Possible sources include extreme environments like galactic centers, gamma-ray bursts, or interactions with the cosmic microwave background. This discovery opens a new window into ultra-high-energy neutrino astronomy.

(www.sciencealert.com)

Tech cosmic neutrino

Palantir: The Data Integration Powerhouse Behind the Scenes

2025-08-15

Palantir provides data integration and analysis software for both government agencies and businesses. Its software seamlessly integrates data from various sources, even handling messy legacy systems. It allows clients to replace numerous dashboards and programs with a single system, without requiring a complete overhaul of their underlying architecture. The software is user-friendly, accessible to non-technical users via its two main platforms: Foundry (commercial) and Gotham (government and law enforcement). Gotham is a powerful investigative tool connecting people, places, and events of interest. Palantir's success stems from its timely response to the rise of 'Big Data', offering a practical solution for organizations struggling with legacy system upgrades. Supporting tools include Apollo for software updates and an AI platform.

(www.wired.com)

Tech

US Pharma Tax Avoidance Fuels Soaring Trade Deficit with Ireland

2025-08-15

A massive surge in the US trade deficit with Ireland is driven by American pharmaceutical companies exploiting loopholes in the 2017 tax code to avoid paying US taxes. They're manufacturing drugs abroad, primarily in Ireland, and importing them back into the US, even though domestic production is feasible. This practice reduces US tax revenue and exacerbates the trade deficit, prompting calls for tax law reform.

(www.cfr.org)

Tech tax avoidance pharmaceutical industry

Global Plastic Treaty Talks Hit a Snag

2025-08-15

Negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution are nearing a close in Geneva, but nations remain deadlocked over whether to curb plastic production. The latest draft focuses on reducing problematic plastic products, improving plastic design for recyclability, and better waste management, but it stops short of limiting production or addressing chemicals used in plastics. Countries like Norway advocate for a comprehensive approach including production limits, while oil and gas producers and the plastics industry oppose such limits. Disagreements over the treaty's scope and definitions persist, leaving the outcome uncertain and potentially requiring further negotiations.

(www.pbs.org)

Tech environmental treaty

Apple Resurrects Blood Oxygen on Apple Watch, Bypassing Import Ban

2025-08-15

Apple announced Thursday a redesigned blood oxygen feature for select Watch Series 8, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra models, circumventing an International Trade Commission (ITC) import ban. Blood oxygen data is now processed on the paired iPhone, viewable only within the Health app's Respiratory section. This follows a recent U.S. Customs ruling allowing Apple to import watches with the revised feature. The change doesn't affect previously sold models or those purchased outside the U.S., applying only to watches sold after the ITC ban in early 2024. Users can access the redesigned feature via an iPhone and Apple Watch software update released Thursday. This follows Apple's ongoing legal battle with Masimo, which accused Apple of stealing its pulse oximetry technology. Masimo won a 2023 ITC ruling blocking Apple Watch imports with blood oxygen monitoring, prompting Apple's removal of the feature. Apple countersued, claiming Masimo copied Apple Watch features, and appealed the ban.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Patent Dispute

Urgent: Plex Media Server Security Vulnerability, Update Now!

2025-08-15

Several versions of Plex Media Server (1.41.7.x through 1.42.0.x) contain a security vulnerability. Plex has released an urgent fix (1.42.1.10060 or later). While Plex hasn't publicly disclosed details, they strongly urge all users to update immediately. The risk is higher if your Plex server is exposed to the internet. Update now and review your server settings, disabling external access if necessary.

(nerds.xyz)

Tech

Self-Playing Guitar System: 9400 Hours of Mastery, $40,000 Price Tag

2025-08-15

Michael Kuzma, a guitarist and electrical engineer, spent 9,400 hours developing his Kuzma Self-Playing Guitar System. This invention, attachable to any guitar, uses 3D-printed parts, motors, and actuators to pick and fret. While not quite ready for Hendrix, it can handle Oasis covers. Kuzma even uses it for hands-free busking. The robot guitar can play at speeds exceeding human capabilities (44 notes per second!). Kuzma custom-builds these systems, starting at $40,000, with the final price depending on customizations, the chosen guitar, and delivery location.

(www.core77.com)

Tech robot guitar

Galileo and the Birth of Modern Science: A Telescope's Revolution

2025-08-15

Four hundred years ago, Galileo's telescopic observations shook the scientific world. His discovery of Jupiter's moons sparked controversy, with some scholars refusing to believe and others unable to verify. Only Kepler supported him, lacking a suitable telescope at the time. It wasn't until other astronomers independently confirmed his findings that Galileo's discoveries gained widespread acceptance. This period marked the birth of modern science, emphasizing the establishment of facts through experiments and observations rather than relying on textual interpretations. Galileo linked science to exploration, ushering in a new era of fact-based science, though he later faced religious persecution for supporting the Copernican heliocentric model. Today, we take the objectivity and authority of science for granted, a legacy of the era of discovery initiated by Galileo.

(www.historytoday.com)

Tech Galileo Telescope

Apple Watch Blood Oxygen Feature Redesign Rolls Out in the US

2025-08-14

Apple is releasing a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for select Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users in the US via an iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1 update. This follows a recent US Customs ruling, allowing blood oxygen data processing on the paired iPhone and display in the Health app's Respiratory section. The update doesn't affect previously purchased watches with the original feature or those bought outside the US.

(www.apple.com)

Tech Blood Oxygen

I Turned Down a Six-Figure Offer for My Dream Job in Fusion Energy

2025-08-14

After 15 years in the tech industry, the author received two competing job offers. One offered significantly higher pay, stock options, a large bonus, and even a company trip to the Bahamas. However, the author chose a lower-paying position at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a fusion energy company. The author prioritized passion and the importance of meaningful work over higher compensation. They articulated the three key elements of job satisfaction as pay, work, and people; a balance of all three leads to genuine fulfillment.

(dillonshook.com)

Tech dream job

Lenovo's Record-Breaking Quarter: AI PCs Fuel Growth

2025-08-14

Lenovo kicked off its fiscal year with a bang, reporting record PC sales and dominating the AI PC market. Q1 2025/26 revenue hit $18.8 billion, a 22% year-over-year increase, with profits more than doubling. Its PC and smart devices division saw its fastest growth in 15 quarters, achieving a record 24.6% global market share. Over 30% of Lenovo's PC shipments were AI PCs, giving it a commanding 31% market share in the Windows AI PC segment. While the practical usage of AI PC features is debated, Lenovo's premium models and hybrid AI strategy are resonating with consumers. Motorola's foldable phone success also contributed significantly. Lenovo's Infrastructure Solutions Group also thrived, with revenue up 36% and AI infrastructure sales more than doubling. Despite the recovering PC market, Lenovo's strong performance puts it ahead of competitors, but the long-term success depends on sustained demand for AI PC features.

(nerds.xyz)

Tech PC Market

Game-Changing Molecule Shows Promise as Carbon Monoxide Antidote

2025-08-14

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have engineered a novel molecule, RcoM-HBD-CCC, showing significant promise as a carbon monoxide poisoning antidote with fewer side effects than existing treatments. This protein-based therapy acts as a carbon monoxide sponge, rapidly removing the toxic gas from the blood in mouse studies and safely eliminating it through urine. Unlike other treatments, it caused minimal blood pressure changes. This breakthrough offers potential for a rapid, intravenous antidote, potentially usable in emergency rooms and even by first responders.

(www.medschool.umaryland.edu)

Tech medical breakthrough

Meta Found Guilty of Accessing Sensitive Data from Women's Health App

2025-08-14

A jury ruled that Meta accessed sensitive information from Flo Health, a women's reproductive health tracking app, without consent. Flo Health collected highly personal data, including menstrual cycles, mood swings, and sexual activity, sharing it with companies like Facebook and Google. This case highlights serious data privacy concerns, particularly after the overturning of abortion rights in the US, increasing risks to women's reproductive health information. The verdict raises concerns about other apps' data-sharing practices and the balance between technological convenience and potential dangers.

(www.malwarebytes.com)

Tech

Data Brokers Hide Data Deletion Options in California

2025-08-14

California law requires data brokers to provide ways for consumers to delete their data, but many companies are making it incredibly difficult to find these options. An investigation by The Markup and CalMatters revealed that over 30 data brokers used code to prevent search engines from indexing their data deletion pages. This makes it nearly impossible for Californians to exercise their right to data removal. While some companies removed the code after being contacted, others either didn't respond or claimed the code was to prevent spam. This highlights the challenges of data privacy protection and the passive resistance of some companies to comply with the law.

(www.wired.com)

Tech California Consumer Privacy Act

India's 'De-Sinicization': A China-Dependent Electronics Revolution

2025-08-14

India's ambitious plan to displace China as the world's electronics manufacturing hub ironically relies heavily on Chinese companies for technology, manufacturing expertise, and operational models. Key Indian players, like Dixon Technologies, heavily depend on Chinese partners for crucial components and design. This dependence, despite significant government investment, casts doubt on the plan's long-term viability. The success hinges on maintaining stable commercial relations between India and China amidst escalating economic competition and geopolitical tensions – a considerable risk.

(indiadispatch.com)

Tech Chinese technology

Microsoft's Universal Print Gets 'Pull Print' Feature for Enhanced Security

2025-08-14

Microsoft has made its 'Pull Print' feature for Universal Print generally available, addressing the security risk of sensitive documents left unattended at printers. Users can now release print jobs from any registered printer without pre-selecting a device, simply by authenticating. Two release methods are offered: direct print and secure release (via QR code). While alternatives exist, this free addition to Universal Print is particularly attractive for Microsoft 365 organizations already using the service, significantly improving both security and convenience.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Universal Print Print Security

Russia Tightens Internet Grip: WhatsApp and Telegram Calls Partially Restricted

2025-08-14

Russia has partially restricted calls on messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, citing the need to combat crime. The government regulator claims these platforms are used for fraud, extortion, and terrorist activities, accusing the companies of ignoring requests to take countermeasures. This is the latest move in Russia's long-standing effort to control the internet, involving restrictive laws, website bans, and online traffic manipulation. While VPNs can circumvent restrictions, they are also routinely blocked. The move raises concerns about freedom of communication and government surveillance, as Russia promotes its domestically developed messaging app, MAX, as a replacement for international platforms.

(apnews.com)

Tech russia communication security

Walkability and Physical Activity: Evidence from Millions of Smartphone Users

2025-08-14

Researchers analyzed anonymized data from over 2 million US smartphone users in the Azumio Argus health app, focusing on 5,424 participants who relocated across 1,609 cities. The study found a significant positive correlation between moving to a more walkable city and increased daily steps, consistent across various demographic and activity levels. This suggests that improving urban walkability can effectively boost physical activity. A nationwide simulation further estimated the impact of walkability improvements on US residents' physical activity, providing data-driven insights for urban planning.

(www.nature.com)

Tech

Category: Tech