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Capita, the UK outsourcer that won a $323 million contract to administer the nation's Civil Service Pension Scheme for 1.7 million members, has responded to a disastrous portal launch by asking users to hold off on complaints until its new AI chatbots go live. The service launched on December 1 and immediately ran into problems including unrecognized passwords, broken links and placeholder text scattered across unfinished pages. In a December 17 email to members, The Register reports today, managing director Chris Clements said Capita was "working tirelessly" and promised "one of the biggest services in the United Kingdom with AI at its core" by March. He asked users whose enquiries were not urgent to wait until the new year before contacting support again.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FreeBSD vs. Slackware: Which super stable OS is right for you?  ZDNET

Google is quietly killing Gmail's ability to fetch mail from third-party email accounts using POP3, a long-standing feature that has allowed users to consolidate multiple inboxes into a single Gmail interface. The change takes effect this month and also ends Gmailify, the companion feature that applied Gmail's spam filtering and inbox organization to linked third-party accounts. Google buried the decision in a support note rather than making any formal announcement. The company's suggested workaround -- switching to IMAP -- doesn't work for all affected users. Users can still access third-party accounts through the Gmail mobile app, but the Gmail service itself will no longer retrieve messages from external providers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NixOS: Declarative Linux Revolution with Reproducible Systems and Rollbacks  WebProNews

Microsoft has started testing a "significant" visual overhaul for Edge in its Canary and Dev Channel preview builds, and the redesigned interface borrows heavily from the design language that first appeared in the company's standalone Copilot app rather than the Fluent Design system used across Windows 11, Xbox, and Office. The updated look touches context menus, the new tab page and settings areas, introducing rounder corners and the same color palette and typography found in Copilot. The new interface appears regardless of whether users have Copilot Mode enabled, though the new tab page reverts to MSN news articles and Bing search when Copilot Mode is turned off. Edge is not alone in this shift, Windows Central writes. Microsoft is also applying the Copilot design language to Copilot Discover, an AI-powered version of MSN.com that may be internally codenamed "Ruby." Windows and Xbox have not yet received similar treatment. The rollout remains uneven -- the refreshed UI is not appearing on all test machines -- and production releases are likely weeks away. If Microsoft continues down this path, Copilot, MSN and Edge will share a visual identity that looks noticeably different from the rest of the company's software lineup, the publication adds.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

How to check RAM in Linux?  About Chromebooks

How To Use zip command in Linux  About Chromebooks

Check out the new Games For Everyone podcast and have a listen  GamingOnLinux

Scientists at Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity are working on a Crispr-based treatment -- delivered as a nasal spray or injection -- that could stop influenza infections by targeting the virus's RNA and disrupting its ability to replicate inside human cells. The approach uses the Cas13 enzyme, a lesser-known cousin of the DNA-cutting Cas9, which can be engineered to seek out conserved regions of influenza's genetic code that are found in virtually all flu strains and are crucial to the virus's survival. The delivery mechanism would use lipid nanoparticles to ferry two molecular instructions to flu-infected cells in the respiratory tract: an mRNA that tells cells to produce Cas13 and a guide RNA that directs the enzyme to specific parts of the influenza virus's code. Cas13 then cuts the viral RNA and effectively stops the infection at the genetic level, Sharon Lewin, the infectious diseases physician leading the project, told Wired. Early safety testing at Harvard's Wyss Institute used a "lung on a chip" model to examine whether human cells producing Cas13 could fight off flu strains including H1N1 and H3N2. The institute's founding director Donald Ingber says the studies showed no off-target effects.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Savings offer improved. E*Trade (Morgan Stanley Private Bank) is running promotions for new customers on both their savings and checking accounts:

• Premium Savings up to $2,000 deposit bonus + 3.50% APY
• Max-Rate Checking $300 bonus + up to 2.00% APY

Hat tip to reader Greg on this one.

Up to $2,000 Savings promo details (deposit bonus).

• Open a new Premium Savings Account on etrade.com by February 28, 2026 using promo code SAVE26.
• Deposit qualifying new money (see tiers below) within the first 30 days after account opening.
• Maintain your balance for 45 additional days after the 30-day funding period ends to earn your bonus.

If your deposit meets the minimum of a tier exactly then it works out to up a 1.5% bonus. Note that on some tiers it might be as low as 1%. If let’s say you hold for 60 days for some wiggle room, 1.5% for 60 days works out to a 9% bonus on an annualized basis. Add on the current 3.50% APY on the Premium Savings account for a total of 12.50% APY.

Even on the 1% bonus for 60 days, that works out to a 6% bonus on an annualized basis. Add on the current 3.50% APY on the Premium Savings account for a total of 9.50% APY. Not bad.

$300 Checking promo details (direct deposit required).

CHECKING25. You are not eligible if you have or had owned or co-owned (joint) a Checking or Max-Rate Checking Account within the last 12 months from when you enroll in this offer.
• Make at least 2 direct deposits, each of $1,500 or more, within 90 days of opening your new account.
• Your bonus should arrive around 120 days from account opening.

As of 1/5/26, Max-Rate Checking Account pays 2.00% APY. You must maintain a $5,000 average monthly balance, otherwise there is a $15 monthly fee. The basic Checking Account only pays 0.05% APY (basically nothing), but has no minimum balance. This is notable since you’ll need to maintain an open account for at least a few extra months to get the bonus, so the basic Checking might be better.

Updated with new offers. Capital One has two different checking bonuses for new customers right now, one that requires direct deposit and another that requires debit card activity. You’ll have to pick one.

$250 bonus w/o Direct Deposit requirement:

• Open a 360 Checking account using promotional code DEBIT250.
• Use your 360 Checking debit card for qualifying transactions at least 20 of $10 or more within 75 days of account opening.

What is “new”? If you have or had an open 360 Checking, Simply Checking, or Total Control Checking account as a primary or secondary account holder with Capital One on or after January 1, 2024, you will be ineligible for the bonus. Hat tip to DoC.

$300 bonus w/ Direct Deposit requirement:

• Open a 360 Checking account using promotional code OFFER300.
• Set up and receive at least 2 Qualifying Direct Deposits each of $500 or more to your 360 Checking account within 75 days of account opening.

For this one, if you have or had an open 360 Checking, Simply Checking, or Total Control Checking account as a primary or secondary account holder with Capital One on or after January 1, 2023, you will be ineligible for the bonus.

The 360 Checking account offers a rather disappointing 0.10% APY interest rate, and nothing exceptional other than the ability to link easily with 360 Savings. Highlights:

• No monthly fees, no minimum balance required.
• 0.10% APY on all balance tiers.
• Remote check deposit via app.
• Paper checks will cost you $20 for 50 checks, or $25 for 100 checks.
• In addition to their own ATMs, Capital One uses the Allpoint ATM network for fee-free ATM access.
• You can use your 360 Savings as the overdraft backup source of funds.

A pretty generous checking bonus if you are eligible, but not that attractive long-term unless you already prefer using CapOne 360 Savings. Capital One does seem to keep offering these bonuses regularly each year, making it a good idea to close any idle Capital One 360 accounts.

This modern take on Xfce is the perfect distro for audio fans - here's why  ZDNET

Public opinion surveys paint a picture of Americans souring dramatically on higher education, as Pew found that the share of adults calling college "very important" dropped from 70% in 2013 to just 35% today, and NBC polling shows that 63% now believe a degree is "not worth the cost," up from 40% over the same period. Yet enrollment data tells a different story. Four-year institutions awarded 2 million bachelor's degrees in 2023, up from 1.6 million in 2010, and the fraction of 25-year-olds holding a bachelor's degree has steadily increased for the past 15 years. The economic case remains strong. The average bachelor's degree holder earns about 70% more than a high-school graduate of similar work experience, and after factoring in financial aid, the cost of attending a public four-year college has fallen by more than 20% since 2015. Even after accounting for student-debt payments, college graduates net about $8,000 more annually than those without degrees. Part of the disconnect may stem from misunderstanding how college pricing works. Nearly half of U.S. adults believe everyone pays the same tuition, though fewer than 20% of families actually pay the published sticker price.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I spent a week with NixOS and it completely changed how I think about Linux  MakeUseOf

During CES 2026, Sphere in Las Vegas is lit up with an Android XR animation.

During CES 2026, Sphere in Las Vegas is lit up with an Android XR animation.

The O-1B visa, a work permit reserved for individuals deemed to possess "extraordinary ability" in the arts, has become the pathway of choice for social media influencers and OnlyFans models seeking to build careers in the United States. Immigration attorneys told the Financial Times that influencers now make up more than half their clientele for O-1B applications, a shift that has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic as lawyers and talent managers have adapted the visa's criteria -- originally designed for traditional artists -- to fit the metrics of online fame. High follower counts and substantial earnings can establish commercial success under the visa's requirements, landing a brand promotion contract can qualify as an endorsement of talent, and appearing at a store opening can count as performing in a "distinguished production." The total number of O-1 visas granted annually increased by more than 50% between 2014 and 2024, even as overall non-immigrant visa issuance grew by just 10%. Fewer than 20,000 O-1 visas were granted in 2024. Some attorneys said they worry the fixation on algorithm-driven metrics could disadvantage traditionally trained artists whose work doesn't generate viral attention.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

5 Linux Resolutions to Level Up Your Skills in 2026  It's FOSS

Samsung is bringing a pair of retro-styled speaker concepts to CES 2026 that combine old-school aesthetics with OLED screens and AI-powered music recommendations, and the company is positioning them as alternatives to conventional Bluetooth speakers that typically depend on a paired smartphone or tablet for content selection. The "AI OLED Cassette" features a 1.5-inch round OLED display, while the larger "AI OLED Turntable" uses a 13.4-inch round panel, and both allow users to receive music suggestions, browse and select content directly on the device, and set ambient moods using images and video playback.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

You may not want to switch to Linux for these reasons  How-To Geek