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Posted by msmash

BrianFagioli writes: AI might be the future of software development, but a new report suggests we're not quite ready to take our hands off the wheel. Veracode has released its 2025 GenAI Code Security Report, and the findings are pretty alarming. Out of 80 carefully designed coding tasks completed by over 100 large language models, nearly 45 percent of the AI-generated code contained security flaws. That's not a small number. These are not minor bugs, either. We're talking about real vulnerabilities, with many falling under the OWASP Top 10, which highlights the most dangerous issues in modern web applications. The report found that when AI was given the option to write secure or insecure code, it picked the wrong path nearly half the time.

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Tessa Dare, Fantasy, & More

Jul. 30th, 2025 03:30 pm
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Posted by Amanda

Note from Sarah: Libro.fm’s Indie Sale is ending very soon, so if you’d like to stock up on audiobooks for yourself and other fine listening people, go, go, go!

There are some titles for $3.99 – which is astonishing, honestly – including books from Abby Jimenez, Christina Lauren, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Alexandra Vasti. I love a good sale.

The Love of My Afterlife

The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood is $1.99! I hope this sale lasts! Sarah had the author on the podcast and she picked it as her favorite read of 2024.

A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.

As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.

When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is $1.99! This book was recommended in our end of the year podcasts in 2024. We always have some great comments about this one whenever we feature it on sale.

A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series.

The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.

Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.

For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.

Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Do You Want to Start a Scandal

RECOMMENDED: Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare is $1.99! This is part of the Castles Ever After series, but can be read on its own. Elyse loved this book:

I loved Do You Want to Start a Scandal. It’s funny, it’s sexy and it’s got some Clue-like shenanigans going on. If you have better self control than I do, I recommend savoring this book rather than powering through in one sitting (good luck).

On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library. Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan? Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall? Perhaps the butler did it.

All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: it wasn’t her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers’ true identity, she’ll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville—the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she’s ever had the misfortune to embrace. When it comes to emotion, the man hasn’t got a clue.

But as they set about finding the mystery lovers, Piers reveals a few secrets of his own. The oh-so-proper marquess can pick locks, land punches, tease with sly wit . . . and melt a woman’s knees with a single kiss. The only thing he guards more fiercely than Charlotte’s safety is the truth about his dark past.

Their passion is intense. The danger is real. Soon Charlotte’s feeling torn. Will she risk all to prove her innocence? Or surrender it to a man who’s sworn to never love?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Sorcery and Small Magics

Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy is $2.99! This one is a slightly cozy, queer fantasy with rivals who are now magically connected after a curse goes wrong. Last time this was on sale, the comments mention it’s a slow burn and the first book does not have an HEA in it.

Desperate to undo the curse binding them to each other, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.

Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

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Posted by Popkin

By ignis - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Sometimes, disputes between property owners and highway planners result in surreal looking buildings, like this Japanese office building. The Gate Tower Building in Osaka, Japan features something no other office building in the country has. A highway exit ramp passes directly through its middle floors. — Read the rest

The post Japan's gate tower building features highway exit ramp passing through its middle floors appeared first on Boing Boing.

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Posted by Jennifer Sandlin

Image: Luigi Mangione mugshot / PA Department of Corrections

If you missed Luigi: The Musical in its recent sold-out run in San Francisco at The Independent theater, never fear, a new show has been added for August 6, and more shows will be added soon. Additionally, according to Newsweek, the show's creators plan to bring it to New York, Los Angeles, the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and more. — Read the rest

The post Luigi: the Musical is coming soon to New York, Los Angeles, and more appeared first on Boing Boing.

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Posted by Jennifer Sandlin

I can't stop watching videos of Jip Jip, an adorable talking French bulldog who jibber jabbers like no other animal I've ever heard. Thanks to his human dad Joe, who posts videos of Jip Jip on social media, we all get to witness his hilarity — and laugh along with him.  — Read the rest

The post This talking French bulldog makes me howl with laughter appeared first on Boing Boing.

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Posted by Boing Boing's Shop

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (2019) i7, 1.3GHz Touchscreen 16GB RAM 512GB SSD (Refurbished)

TL;DR: Enjoy all of the premium features and performances of a Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 at a low, low cost of only $399.99 (reg. $1,099) while supplies last.

If saving was at the top of your New Year's resolution list, be real — how are you really doing? — Read the rest

The post This budget-friendly Surface laptop is bound to sell out! appeared first on Boing Boing.

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Posted by msmash

JPMorgan's proposed fees for customer data access would cost fintech startups between 60 and 100% of their annual revenue "just from one bank," according to a trade group representing the affected firms. Steve Boms, executive director of the Financial Data and Technology Association, said the charges would apply across all 30 companies in his group that received pricing notices from the nation's largest bank. The trade association, whose members include Plaid, Fiserv and Intuit, called JPMorgan's move a "pure and simple" attempt to kill competition that would "put third parties out of business altogether." The fees could take effect in September, ending more than a decade of free data access that fintech companies have used to build their business models. JPMorgan can now charge for data access after the Trump administration changed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules that previously prohibited such fees. The Financial Technology Association has taken the dispute to federal courts seeking to restore the Biden-era protections, while crypto trade groups have written directly to President Trump warning the fees would hurt digital currency companies.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Posted by NewsHound Ellen

Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is not fooling around. Last week, he demanded answers from Donald Trump’s Department of Justice about information that it had arranged for the FBI to go through the department’s approximately 100,000 Epstein records and flag any that mentioned President Trump.

On Tuesday, Durbin asked, on the Senate floor, “What is it that is in these files that is so frightening to the president, the White House, the Department of Justice and the Republican leadership in Congress?” That's what we all want to know.

We all deserve to know, Durbin acknowledged. Specifically, Durbin now wants to see a transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's very suspicious two-day prison interview with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking of minors. “We don’t know what was said, but we should,” Durbin added.

Durbin has also written to Blanche demanding that information.

read more

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Posted by John Amato

Donald Trump's Border Czar Tom 'General Zod' Homan moved the goalposts once again to allow ICE agents to arrest almost anybody because they might be future criminals.

How does Homan classify people as national security threats?

Homan spewed out skewed data to Newsmax TV.

HOMAN: I recognize that, obviously, it's a priority to go after the criminal, illegal migrants, but there are no doubt people who came into this country illegally, without criminal records, but still a desire to inflict harm onto American citizens here.

HOST: What does that look like to target those individuals who, again, might not have a criminal record, but came from countries all around the globe wishing to instill harm on Americans?

HOMAN: Well, let's talk about that, because I've done several interviews this week where they keep pouncing on, well, ICE arresting a lot of non-criminals, ICE detaining a lot of non-criminals.

You're not keeping your promise on prioritizing public safety threats. So, let's try to steal the narrative and turn the American people against this. But, look, I look at the numbers every morning.

Here's what the numbers look like. For those we arrest, 70%, approximately 70%, 70% of those we arrest are criminals. Who's the other 30%? The other 30% are national security threats.

Most national security threats don't have a criminal history, because they try to lay low until it's time for them to do things bad.

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President Donald Trump and his Republican enablers are bragging about the amount of tariff revenue the federal government is collecting, calling it the "Golden Age."

"WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE," the White House wrote in a post on X, along with an image of Dear Leader pumping his fist. "Thanks to the leadership of @POTUS, the U.S. has generated over $150B in tariff revenues within the past 6 months."

But it's a bizarre flex, as Trump and the GOP are essentially bragging about raising taxes on Americans—who end up footing the bill for tariffs in the form of higher prices.

Despite Trump's lies, it's the people who import goods into the United States that pay the tariffs—not foreign governments. And multiple companies that manufacture their products abroad have already announced that they are going to raise prices to offset the hit the tariffs will have on their business. 

Cartoon by Clay Bennett
“Trump’s tariffs” by Clay Bennett

For example, Procter & Gamble announced on Monday that they will increase prices on popular household items such as Tide laundry detergent and Charmin toilet paper, as the company expects that tariffs will cost the company $1 billion.

It’s not the only company that will be forced to raise prices because of the tariffs.

"You're going to see companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy forced to pass price increases to consumers," Bill George, the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and executive education fellow at Harvard Business School, told Reuters. "Main Street has yet to see the fallout from increased tariffs—and they're going to go higher."

Beef is also seeing massive price hikes thanks to Trump's nonsensical tariffs.

And other essential items are likely to be hit by inflation such as pharmaceuticals—many of which are manufactured in the European Union and will now face a 15% tariff.

But Republicans are celebrating Trump’s destructive tariffs and the revenue they are bringing in.


Related |GOP senator floats broken plan to buy off Americans mad about tariffs


“Great news on President Trump’s EU deal. 15% tariffs—more tariff money! Which means more money for rebates for working people,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote in a post on X, referring to a bill he introduced that would give a $600 rebate check per adult and dependent child, or $2,400 for a family of four.

But that wouldn’t cover much, as Trump’s tariffs are expected to cost families $4,600 per year, according to an analysis from the Center for American Progress.

Americans seem to understand that, as polling shows they overwhelmingly oppose Trump’s tariffs. For example, a Navigator Research poll released Tuesday found 55% oppose Trump’s tariffs, with 53% saying that Trump’s tariff policy “is creating chaos and damaging the American economy while raising costs for American families.”

Democrats, for their part, lambasted Trump for bragging about the tariff revenue—which hurts low-income Americans more as price increases for essential goods take a larger percentage of their take-home pay than wealthier people.
"What's there to celebrate?” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote in a post on X. “The cost of beef is up. The cost of utilities is up. The cost of electronics is up. The cost of Rx drugs is up. The cost of coffee is up. The cost of toys is up. And it's American consumers who are paying the price.”

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Posted by msmash

Manager engagement has plummeted to its lowest level since tracking began, with only 27% of managers globally reporting they feel involved and enthusiastic about their work, according to Gallup's annual State of the Global Workplace report. The 3-percentage-point decline from 2023 marks an unprecedented drop in manager satisfaction. Overall employee engagement fell to 21% in 2024 from 23% the previous year, representing only the second decline in 15 years of data collection. The last drop occurred during 2020 COVID lockdowns. Female managers experienced the steepest decline at 7 percentage points, while younger managers fell 5 points. Managers now oversee nearly three times as many employees as in 2017, yet only 44% have received managerial training.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Posted by Not Always Right

Read Holding The Line, But Barely Holding A Thought For Others

A man is halfway through checking out. I’ve scanned most of his cart when his phone rings. Without a word, he steps aside to answer it and walks off toward the produce section.
A minute passes. Then two. This doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you're in a checkout lane and another customer is waiting, it feels like eons.

Read Holding The Line, But Barely Holding A Thought For Others

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Posted by msmash

Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Meta's AI systems have begun improving themselves over the past few months, calling the development "slow for now, but undeniable" and declaring that superintelligence is now within reach. The Meta CEO staked out the company's vision in a blog post for what he termed "personal superintelligence" -- AI that helps individuals achieve their goals rather than replacing human work entirely. Zuckerberg drew a sharp line between Meta's approach and that of other companies in the field, arguing that competitors want superintelligence "directed centrally towards automating all valuable work, and then humanity will live on a dole of its output." Meta's version would give people their own superintelligent assistants that know them deeply and help them create, experience adventures, and become better friends. Zuckerberg envisions smart glasses as the primary computing device, understanding context through what users see and hear throughout their day. The next few years represent a critical juncture, Zuckerberg wrote, calling the rest of this decade "the decisive period for determining the path this technology will take."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Posted by BeauHD

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Google executives are pushing employees to act with more urgency in their use of artificial intelligence as the company looks for ways to cut costs. That was the message at an all-hands meeting last week, featuring CEO Sundar Pichai and Brian Saluzzo, who runs the teams building the technical foundation for Google's flagship products. "Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right?" Pichai said, according to audio obtained by CNBC. "But in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition to drive higher productivity. [...] We are competing with other companies in the world," Pichai said at the meeting. "There will be companies which will become more efficient through this moment in terms of employee productivity, which is why I think it's important to focus on that." [...] "We are going to be going through a period of much higher investment and I think we have to be frugal with our resources, and I would strive to be more productive and efficient as a company," Pichai said, adding that he's "very optimistic" about how Google is doing. At the meeting, Saluzzo highlighted a number of tools the company is building for software engineers, or SWEs, to help "everybody at Google be more AI-savvy." "We feel the urgency to really quickly and urgently get AI into more of the coding workflows to address top needs so you see a much more rapid increase in velocity," Saluzzo said. Saluzzo said Google has a portfolio of AI products available to employees "so folks can go faster." He mentioned an internal site called "AI Savvy Google" which has courses, toolkits and learning sessions, including some for individual product areas. Google's engineering education team, which develops courses for internal and external use, partnered with DeepMind on a training called "Building with Gemini" that the company will start promoting soon, Saluzzo said. He also referenced a new internal AI coding tool called Cider that helps software engineers with various aspects of the development process. Since May, when the company first introduced Cider, 50% of users tap the service on a weekly basis, Saluzzo said. Regarding Google's internal AI tools, Saluzzo said that employees should "expect them to continuously get better" and that "they'll become a pretty integral part of most SWE work."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Posted by BeauHD

Longtime Slashdot reader ndsurvivor shares a report from MIT: MIT physicists have performed an idealized version of one of the most famous experiments in quantum physics. Their findings demonstrate, with atomic-level precision, the dual yet evasive nature of light. They also happen to confirm that Albert Einstein was wrong about this particular quantum scenario. The experiment in question is the double-slit experiment, which was first performed in 1801 by the British scholar Thomas Young to show how light behaves as a wave. Today, with the formulation of quantum mechanics, the double-slit experiment is now known for its surprisingly simple demonstration of a head-scratching reality: that light exists as both a particle and a wave. Stranger still, this duality cannot be simultaneously observed. Seeing light in the form of particles instantly obscures its wave-like nature, and vice versa. [...] Now, MIT physicists have performed the most "idealized" version of the double-slit experiment to date. Their version strips down the experiment to its quantum essentials. They used individual atoms as slits, and used weak beams of light so that each atom scattered at most one photon. By preparing the atoms in different quantum states, they were able to modify what information the atoms obtained about the path of the photons. The researchers thus confirmed the predictions of quantum theory: The more information was obtained about the path (i.e. the particle nature) of light, the lower the visibility of the interference pattern was. They demonstrated what Einstein got wrong. Whenever an atom is "rustled" by a passing photon, the wave interference is diminished. "Einstein and Bohr would have never thought that this is possible, to perform such an experiment with single atoms and single photons," says Wolfgang Ketterle, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics and leader of the MIT team. "What we have done is an idealized Gedanken experiment." Their results appear in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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Posted by BeauHD

Promising Phase 3 trial results from Apnimed suggest a potential game-changing oral pill for sleep apnea could offer a simpler, more tolerable alternative for keeping airways open during sleep. The New York Times reports: For decades, the primary treatment for sleep apnea has been continuous positive airway pressure (or CPAP). Before bed, those with the condition put on a face mask that is connected to a CPAP machine, which keeps the airway open by forcing air into it. The machines are effective, but many find them so noisy, cumbersome or uncomfortable that they end up abandoning them. Now, a more appealing option may be on the way, according to a news release from Apnimed, a pharmaceutical company focused on treating sleep apnea. On Wednesday, the company announced a second round of positive Phase 3 clinical trial results for a first-of-its-kind oral pill that can be taken just before bedtime to help keep a person's airway open. The full results have not yet been released, or published in a peer-reviewed journal. But the findings build on past, similarly positive conclusions from trials and studies. Sleep experts say that what they're seeing in reports so far makes them think the pill could be a game changer. Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep doctor and researcher at Northwestern Medicine who was not involved with the trial, said that if approved, the drug could transform the lives of many. That includes not only those who can't tolerate CPAP machines, but also those who can't -- or prefer not to -- use other interventions, such as other types of oral devices or weight loss medications. (Excess weight is a risk factor for sleep apnea.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

India's One-Airline State

Jul. 30th, 2025 06:15 am
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Posted by msmash

An anonymous reader shares an analysis: In most major aviation markets, including the U.S. and Europe, competition is an oligopolistic affair, with several large airlines competing for market share. India's domestic sector, however, is increasingly characterized by the ascent of a single airline. Low-cost carrier IndiGo has achieved an extraordinary concentration of the market, capturing approximately 64.4% of all passenger traffic as of May. More strikingly, the airline operates with a near-monopoly on 66% of its domestic routes, facing little to no direct competition in a significant portion of its network. This position is the culmination of a decade-long expansion that saw the exit of rivals like Jet Airways and GoAir. Today, its remaining competitors continue to struggle; SpiceJet's domestic market share has fallen to just 2% while it operates a reduced fleet of only 19 aircraft. Air India, despite its acquisition by the Tata Group in 2022, has been slow in its restructuring and continues to cede domestic ground, with the flag carrier remaining unprofitable.

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