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Nvidia Expands GeForce Now to Linux and Fire TV at CES 2026  WebProNews

Nvidia's G-Sync Pulsar technology, first announced nearly two years ago as a solution to display motion blur caused by old images persisting on the viewer's retina, is finally arriving in consumer monitors this week. The first four Pulsar-equipped displays -- from Acer, AOC, Asus and MSI -- hit select retailers on Wednesday, all sharing the same core specs: 27-inch IPS panels running at 1440p resolution and up to 360 Hz refresh rates. Nvidia claims the technology delivers the "effective motion clarity of a theoretical 1,000 Hz monitor." The system uses a rolling scan scheme that pulses the backlight for one-quarter of a frame just before pixels are overwritten, giving them time to fully transition between colors before illumination. The approach also reduces how long old pixels persist on the viewer's retina. Previous "Ultra Low Motion Blur" features on other monitors worked only at fixed refresh rates, but Pulsar syncs its pulses to G-Sync's variable refresh rate. Early reviews are mixed. The Monitors Unboxed YouTube channel called it "clearly the best solution currently available" for limiting motion blur, while PC Magazine described the improvements as "minor in the grand scheme of things" and potentially hard for casual viewers to notice.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nvidia’s GeForce Now Lands On Fire TV Sticks And Linux  findarticles.com

Nvidia’s GeForce Now Lands On Fire TV Sticks And Linux  findarticles.com

Qualcomm, Linaro Submit Linux Patches for Snapdragon X1 Elite Acer Laptop  WebProNews

The Lego Group today unveiled Smart Bricks, a tiny computer that fits entirely inside a classic 2x4 brick and which the company is calling the most significant evolution in its building system since the introduction of the minifigure in 1978. The Smart Brick contains a custom ASIC smaller than a single Lego stud and includes light and sound output, light sensors, inertial sensors for detecting movement and tilt, and a microphone that functions as a virtual button rather than a recording device. The bricks detect NFC-equipped smart tags embedded in new tiles and minifigures, and they form a Bluetooth mesh network to sense each other's position and orientation. They charge wirelessly on a pad that can handle multiple bricks simultaneously. The first Smart Brick sets ship March 1 and are all Star Wars themed, ranging from a $70 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter at 473 pieces to a $160 Darth Vader's Throne Room Duel at 962 pieces. Lego confirmed there is no AI or camera in the product. The company quietly piloted the technology in a 2024 Lego City set and says Smart Play will continue to expand through new updates and launches.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple SMC Power Driver Submitted to Linux Kernel for Silicon MacBooks  WebProNews

First Look at Devuan GNU+Linux 6 “Excalibur” on Raspberry Pi 5  9to5Linux

First Look at Devuan GNU+Linux 6 “Excalibur” on Raspberry Pi 5  9to5Linux

Linux Developers Debate Disabling Middle-Click Paste in GNOME, Firefox for Wayland  WebProNews

2025 Mesa Drivers Surge: Valve, AMD Boost Linux Gaming  WebProNews

The "talent is everywhere" approach that U.S. employers adopted during the white-hot pandemic job market is quietly giving way to something much older and more familiar: recruiting almost exclusively from a small set of elite and nearby universities. A 2025 survey of more than 150 companies by Veris Insights found that 26% were exclusively recruiting from a shortlist of schools, up from 17% in 2022. Diversity as a priority for school recruiting selection dropped to 31% of employers surveyed in 2025, down from nearly 60% in 2022. GE Appliances once sent recruiters on one or two passes through 45 to 50 schools each year; now the company attends four or five events per semester at just 15 universities, including Purdue and Auburn. McKinsey, the consulting firm that expanded recruitment well beyond the Ivy League after George Floyd's murder, recently removed language from its career page that said "We hire people, not degrees." The firm now hosts in-person events at a shortlist of about 20 core schools, including Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. Most companies now recruit at up to 30 American colleges out of about 4,000, said William Chichester III, who has directed entry-level recruiting at Target and Peloton. For students outside elite schools or those located near company headquarters? "God help you," he said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Red Hat Expands Collaboration with NVIDIA to Pair Enterprise Open Source with Rack-Scale AI for Faster, Production-Ready Innovation  WebWire

Activation reminder for 2026 1st Quarter. The credit cards below offer 5% cash back and up on specific categories that rotate each quarter. It takes a little extra attention, but it can add up to hundreds of dollars in additional rewards per year without changing your spending habits. You can also buy gift cards for other retailers at places like Grocery Stores and Home Improvement stores with 5% back now but spend the gift cards later. New cardmembers may also get an upfront sign-up bonus.

Discover it Card

From January 1st through March 31st, 2026, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

• Grocery Stores
• Wholesale Clubs
• Select Streaming Services, including Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, AMC+, Apple Music, Apple TV, Audible, DirecTV Stream, Fandango at Home, Google Play Music and Video, Max, iHeartRadio, MLB.TV, Netflix, Pandora, Paramount Plus, Peacock, SiriusXM, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV.?

Enroll after logging into your online account. 5% rewards won’t apply until after you activate your rewards, so it is best to activate now before you forget. No annual fee.

Discover it $100 bonus + Double Cashback Match details. If you are a new applicant and sign up via Discover Card referral link, you will get a $50 improved $100 Cashback Bonus after your first purchase within 3 months of being account opening. On top of that, you will also get Cashback Match for an entire year – a dollar-for-dollar match of all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year, automatically. During those 12 months, your 5% cash back rewards becomes 10% cash back, and your 1% cash back rewards become 2% cash back. You can verify this on the application by looking under “Terms and Conditions” or searching for “cashback match” and “statement credit offer”:

Refer a Friend: You will receive a $100 statement credit after making a purchase within three months of account opening. If the Referral Program is offered, we reserve the right to alter, change or terminate the Referral Program at any time. A Balance Transfer or Cash Advance does not qualify as a purchase. You must apply online through your friend’s digital referral link and be approved by 11:59pm ET, December 31, 2026 in order to be eligible for the $100 statement credit offer. Phone, mail-in, and other digital applications are not eligible for referral rewards. Offer may not be combined with any other introductory offer. Promotional award will be applied within 1-2 billing periods. Statement credits you receive may be taxable to you. Please contact your tax advisor.

Cashback Match: We’ll match all the cash back you’ve earned on your credit card from the day your new account is approved through your first 12 consecutive billing periods or 365 days, whichever is longer, and add it to your rewards account within two billing periods. You earn cash back only when they’re processed, which may be after the transaction date. We will not match: rewards that are processed after your match period ends; statement credits; or rewards transfers from Discover checking or other deposit accounts. Your account must be open and in good standing to receive your Cashback Match. This offer may not be available in the future and is exclusively for new cardmembers. No purchase minimums.

Chase Freedom Flex Card

From January 1st through March 31st, 2026, you can earn 5% cash back (or 5X Ultimate Rewards points) on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

• Dining
• Norwegian Cruise Line®
• American Heart Association®

(The categories are also the same for the old Chase Freedom card, which is no longer available to new applicants.)

Enroll each quarter online in your Chase account or at ChaseBonus.com. As long as you activate by the 14th of the last month in each quarter, the rewards are retroactive. Technically, you earn Ultimate Rewards points which may be worth even more when converted to airline miles or hotel points instead of cash if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve card. You could also use the Pay Yourself Back tool to additional value. Currently, the Chase Freedom Flex card is offering new applicants a $200 bonus if you sign up and make $500 in purchases in your first three months. No annual fee.

Citi Custom Cash Card

This card offers 5% cash back on your *single* top eligible spending category up to $500 each month (which effectively adds up to $1,500 a quarter). Eligible categories include broad ones like restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, or select travel, but you only get 5% for the top category that month and 1% on everything else. To simplify things you could, for example, elect to only use this card for 5% cash back on gas all year long (up to $500 per month).

Currently, the Citi Custom Cash card is offering new applicants a $200 bonus after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. You’ll actually get 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back. No annual fee.

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

• 6% cash back at US supermarkets all year long (on up to $6,000 per year)
• 6% cash back at select US streaming subscriptions (includes Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube TV, and more).
• $120 Disney Streaming Credit (up to $10 per month with no minimum or bundle required). You can now earn up to $10 back per month as a statement credit when you use your enrolled Blue Cash Preferred® Card to purchase a subscription, or bundle subscription, on DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com, or Plus.espn.com U.S. websites, now with no minimum purchase requirement. Subscription is subject to auto-renewal.
• 3% cash back at US gas stations and transit (taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more).
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.

I use this card all year long for 6% cash back on groceries up to the limit, get my $120 in Disney+ credit to more than offset the $95 annual fee, and then in December use up the $6k annual limit on gift cards bought in the supermarket aisle. New cardholders are also eligible for a $250 welcome offer after $3,000 in purchases within the first 6 months. See details in link.

U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card

You must choose the two 5% cash back categories every quarter, out of a preset selection of specific categories:

• Fast Food
• Cell Phone Providers
• Home Utilities
• Ground Transportation
• Select Clothing Stores
• Electronics Stores
• Car Rentals
• Gyms/Fitness Centers
• Sporting Goods Stores
• Department Stores
• Furniture Stores
• Movie Theaters
• TV, Internet, and Streaming Services

Unfortunately, you can’t pick a broad category like gas stations, restaurants, or grocery stores. Make sure to choose your categories each and every quarter, even if you want them to stay the same. If you do not choose your categories, all purchases revert to only earning 1% cash back for that quarter. No annual fee. Currently, new applicants are offered a $200 bonus after you spend $1,000 in eligible purchases within the first 120 days of account opening.

Amazon Prime Rewards Card

Earn 5% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods all year long. Up to 10% cash back on select items during special promos. Prime membership required. New cardholder bonus of $250 available until 1/8. No annual fee.

Citi Dividend Card. This card has not been available to new applicants for years now, but if you still have the grandfathered card you can view and activate your quarterly 5% category here. Limit of $300 cash back for the calendar year.

Book publisher HarperCollins said it will start translating romance novels under its famous Harlequin label in France using AI, reducing or eliminating the pay for the team of human contract translators who previously did this work. 404Media: Publisher's Weekly broke the news in English after French outlets reported on the story in December. According to a joint statement from French Association of Literary Translators (ATFL) and En Chair et en Os (In Flesh and Bone) -- an anti-AI activist group of French translators -- HarperCollins France has been contacting its translators to tell them they're being replaced with machines in 2026. The ATFL/ En Chair et en Os statement explained that HarperCollins France would use a third party company called Fluent Planet to run Harlequin romance novels through a machine translation system. The books would then be checked for errors and finalized by a team of freelancers. The ATFL and En Chair et en Os called on writers, book workers, and readers to refuse this machine translated future. They begged people to "reaffirm our unconditional commitment to human texts, created by human beings, in dignified working conditions."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Limited-time offer now scheduled to expire 1/8. If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you probably spend a good chunk at Amazon and should at least consider the Prime Visa, a credit card (not store card) available only to Amazon Prime members. During the holiday season, the bonus has boosted to a high of $250 but is going to expire 1/8. Highlights:

• $259 Amazon Gift Card *instantly* upon approval exclusively for Prime members. No spending requirement.
• 5% back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market with an eligible Prime membership.
• 5% back on Chase Travel(SM) purchases with an eligible Prime membership.
• 10% back or more on a rotating selection of items and categories
  on Amazon.com with an eligible Prime membership.
• 2% Back at gas stations, restaurants, and on local transit and commuting
  (including rideshare).
• 1% Back on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• No annual fee.

Rewards can be redeemed easily either on your next Amazon.com purchase or as a statement credit on your bill. But since you get 5% back on your Amazon purchases on this card… it’s slightly better to take the statement credit, even though it is also slightly more hassle.

I have this card set up as my default credit card at Amazon, and that’s its primary purpose in life, to absorb all my Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. (Which is still a lot, unfortunately…)

If you do this, remember that there are also the following extra protections built into the card:

• Extended warranty protection. Extends the time period for the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.
• Purchase Protection. Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Bottom line. If you are a Prime member that spends a lot of money at Amazon and/or Whole Foods and prefer simplicity, using the Prime Visa can add up with minimal extra effort. Be sure to make it your default card for your Amazon account. You can then track all your Amazon spending on one card, and also be sure you remember that you get extended warranty protection and purchase protection on those items.

OpenSnitch: Open-Source Linux Firewall for Network Security  WebProNews

(Update: Offer is back. Again available to existing customers depositing new funds. Hat tip to reader David.)

Live Oak Bank is an FDIC-insured internet bank that is focused on lending to small businesses. Their personal savings account has a limited-time offer of a $200 bonus if you deposit $20,000+ in new funds into their online savings account by 1/30/26 via this special offer page and keep it there for 60 days. The current interest rate is 3.80% APY. Direct deposit is not required. Valid for both new and existing customers, as long as you are adding new money (lookback date is 1/4/26).

Selected fine print:

New and Existing Customers:

The promotion begins on January 5, 2026.
Only one bonus is available per Tax Identification Number per promotional period.
Only personal savings accounts are eligible for the bonus offer. Checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CD) accounts, and fiduciary accounts (e.g., trusts) are not eligible for this offer.
Opening of a new account will be subject to approval by Live Oak Banking Company in its sole discretion.
A new account must be opened between January 5, 2026 and January 30, 2026 to be eligible.
A new Live Oak Bank personal savings account must be fully funded with at least $20,000 by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 30, 2026 to be eligible. If the account is not fully funded by January 30, then it is not eligible for the bonus offer.

All funding of the new personal savings account must consist of funds originating from an external financial institution to qualify; deposits or transfers originating from an existing Live Oak Bank account (personal or business) via internal transfer, CD redemption, check, ACH transfer, wire, or loan proceeds do not qualify for the bonus offer.

Beginning on the date in January 2026 that the new account attains a balance of at least $20,000, if the balance remains equal to or exceeding $20,000 for 60 consecutive days, then the account will be eligible for the bonus if all other conditions are met. If all eligibility criteria are met, the $200 cash bonus will be deposited to your open, eligible account within 45 days following the expiration of the 60-day period.

Your new account must not be closed or restricted at the time of payout in order to receive the bonus. Live Oak Bank reserves the right to withdraw or withhold the bonus offer from any customer, with or without notice, if fraud or other suspicious activity is suspected.

Any promotional amounts received may be subject to taxation.

Existing Customers:
In addition to the other requirements for the bonus offer, existing Live Oak Bank customers must maintain their existing account balances (not including interest accrued but not credited to the account) at or above the end-of-day balance as of January 4, 2026 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET across their existing personal savings in order to be eligible for the bonus offer.

Bonus math. This is a 1% bonus on $20,000 if you keep it there for 60 days, which makes it the equivalent of 6% APY annualized. Bonus will be paid around Day 105 and the account must be open at that time, but you only need to maintain full balance through Day 60. The bonus is on top of the standard interest rate, currently a competitive 3.80% APY as of 1/6/26.

This equivalent of roughly 9.80% total APY over 60 days makes it a solid offer for those with compatible balances looking for short-term place to hold their cash for a few months. Live Oak Bank seems to come and go with the competitiveness of their rates, but it’s nice that this is available to existing customers.

KDE Plasma finally fixed a bug that's been annoying me for over a year  How-To Geek

A survey of 2,000 teachers, students and parents conducted by the New York Times found that many high schools have stopped assigning full novels to students, opting instead for excerpts that are often read on school-issued laptops rather than in print. The shift stems from multiple factors: a belief that students have shorter attention spans, pressure to prepare students for standardized tests, and the influence of Common Core standards adopted by many U.S. states more than a decade ago. Schools increasingly rely on curriculum products like StudySync, which takes an anthology approach to literature rather than requiring complete books. Teachers acknowledge that teens now read far fewer full novels than previous generations, though some educators push back against the trend. "Many teachers are secret revolutionaries and still assign whole books," said Heather McGuire, a New Mexico English teacher who responded to the survey.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.