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AI Assistant with Oracle Cloud Native Environment 2.3  Oracle Blogs

Handmade by human hands using machines  Digg

Mecha Comet – Modular Linux Handheld with Snap-On Modules  OMG! Ubuntu

Apple is forcing Patreon to move all remaining creators onto Apple's in-app purchase subscription system by November 2026 "or else Patreon would risk removal from the App Store," reports TechCrunch. "Apple made this decision because Patreon was managing the billing for some percentage of creators' subscriptions, and the tech giant saw that as skirting its App Store commission structure." The tech giant initially told Patreon that it must do so by November 2025, but the deadline was pushed back. From the report: "We strongly disagree with this decision," its blog post states. "Creators need consistency and clarity in order to build healthy, long-term businesses. Instead, creators using legacy billing will now have to endure the whiplash of another policy reversal -- the third such change from Apple in the past 18 months. Over the years, we have proposed multiple tools and features to Apple that we could've built to allow creators using legacy billing to transition on their own timelines, with more support added in. Unfortunately, Apple has continually declined them," it says. Creators can read more about the transition plan on Patreon's website. It has also built several tools to support these changes, including a benefit eligibility tool to see who has paid or is scheduled to pay, tier repricing tools, and gifting and discount tools to offer payment flexibility. An option for annual-only memberships will be introduced before November 2026 as well. The commission on in-app purchases and subscriptions is 30% on Apple's system, but "drops to 15% for a subscription that has been ongoing for more than a year," notes MacRumors. Patreon lets creators either raise prices only in its iOS app to cover Apple's fee or keep prices the same by absorbing the cost, while iPhone and iPad users can avoid the App Store commission entirely by paying through Patreon's website instead.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google is rolling out an "auto browse" AI agent in Chrome that can navigate websites, fill out forms, compare prices, and handle tedious online tasks on a user's behalf. Bloomberg reports: The feature, called auto browse, will allow users to ask an assistant powered by Gemini to complete tasks such as shopping for them without leaving Chrome, said Charmaine D'Silva, a director of product. Chrome users will be able to plan a family trip by asking Gemini to open different airline and hotel websites to compare prices, for instance, D'Silva explained. "Our testers have used it for all sorts of things: scheduling appointments, filling out tedious online forms, collecting their tax documents, getting quotes for plumbers and electricians, checking if their bills are paid, filing expense reports, managing their subscriptions, and speeding up renewing their driving licenses -- a ton of time saved," said Parisa Tabriz, vice president of Chrome, in a blog post. [...] Chrome's auto browse will be available to US AI pro and AI Ultra subscribers and will use Google Password Manager to sign into websites on a user's behalf. As part of the launch, Google is also bringing its image generation tool, Nano Banana, directly into Chrome. The company said that safeguards have been placed to ensure the agentic AI will not be able to make final calls, such as placing an order, without the user's permission. "We're using AI as well as on-device models to protect people from what's really an ever-evolving landscape, whether it's AI-generated scams or just increasingly sophisticated attackers," Tabiz said during the call.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds  Adafruit

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: The interim head of the country's cyber defense agency uploaded sensitive contracting documents into a public version of ChatGPT last summer, triggering multiple automated security warnings that are meant to stop the theft or unintentional disclosure of government material from federal networks, according to four Department of Homeland Security officials with knowledge of the incident. The apparent misstep from Madhu Gottumukkala was especially noteworthy because the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had requested special permission from CISA's Office of the Chief Information Officer to use the popular AI tool soon after arriving at the agency this May, three of the officials said. The app was blocked for other DHS employees at the time. None of the files Gottumukkala plugged into ChatGPT were classified, according to the four officials, each of whom was granted anonymity for fear of retribution. But the material included CISA contracting documents (PDF) marked "for official use only," a government designation for information that is considered sensitive and not for public release. Cybersecurity sensors at CISA flagged the uploads this past August, said the four officials. One official specified there were multiple such warnings in the first week of August alone. Senior officials at DHS subsequently led an internal review to assess if there had been any harm to government security from the exposures, according to two of the four officials. It is not clear what the review concluded.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I switched to this tiling window manager and can't go back to normal desktops  MakeUseOf

CachyOS vs. EdeavorOS: Which spinoff makes Arch Linux easier to use?  ZDNET

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer

The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about 'our eventual march toward death'  PC Gamer