The Department of Homeland Security is concerned about the rate at which outlawed signal-jamming devices are being found across the US. From a report: In a warning issued on Wednesday, it said it has seen an 830 percent increase in seizures of these signal jammers since 2021, specifically those made in China. Signal-jamming devices are outlawed in the US, mainly because they can interfere with communications between emergency services and law enforcement.

While the Communications Act of 1934 effectively prohibits such devices, signal jammers of the type DHS is concerned about have only circulated in the last 20 to 30 years. Authorities have paid special attention to relay attack devices in recent years -- the types of hardware that can be used to clone signals used by systems such as remote car keys, although the first examples of these devices date back to the 1980s.

New York City on Friday announced new minimum-pay rules for rideshare drivers, settling on a smaller-than-proposed 5% increase following pushback from Uber Technologies and Lyft. From a report: An earlier proposal called for a 6.1% pay boost. The finalized regulations from the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission, or TLC, are also designed to deter Uber and Lyft from locking gig workers out of their apps in an attempt to keep costs down. The board of commissioners will vote on the rules on June 25, according to the agency's website.

Uber and Lyft had strongly opposed the original rate, warning customers that it would force them to increase prices. Lyft's shares extended declines after Bloomberg reported on the rules, falling as much as 3.3% to hit session lows. Uber's stock, which had been up as much as 2.3% earlier Friday, pared most of its gains on the news.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Foreign students will be required to unlock their social media profiles to allow US diplomats to review their online activity before receiving educational and exchange visas, the state department has announced. Those who fail to do so will be suspected of hiding that activity from US officials. The new guidance, unveiled by the state department on Wednesday, directs US diplomats to conduct an online presence review to look for "any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States."

A cable separately obtained by Politico also instructs diplomats to flag any "advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security" and "support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence." The screening for "antisemitic" activity matches similar guidance given at US Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security and has been criticized as an effort to crack down on opposition to the conduct of Israel's war in Gaza.

The new state department checks are directed at students and other applicants for visas in the F, M and J categories, which refer to academic and vocational education, as well as cultural exchanges. "It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump administration is doing every single day," said a senior state department official, adding that Marco Rubio was "helping to make America and its universities safer while bringing the state Department into the 21st century."

Longtime Slashdot reader walterbyrd shares news that Texas Instruments has announced plans to invest more than $60 billion to expand its U.S. manufacturing operations in the United States. From a report: The funds will be used to build or expand seven chip-making facilities in Texas as well as Utah, and will create 60,000 jobs, TI said on Wednesday, calling it the "largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in U.S. history." The company did not give a timeline for the investment.

Unlike AI chip firms Nvidia and AMD, TI makes analog or foundational chips used in everyday devices such as smartphones, cars and medical devices, giving it a large client base that includes Apple, SpaceX and Ford Motor. The spending pledge follows similar announcements from others in the semiconductor industry, including Micron, which said last week that it would expand its U.S. investment by $30 billion, taking its planned spending to $200 billion. [...]

Like other companies unveiling such spending commitments, TI's announcement includes funds already allocated to facilities that are either under construction or ramping up. It will build two additional plants in Sherman, Texas, based on future demand. "TI is building dependable, low-cost 300 millimeter capacity at scale to deliver the analog and embedded processing chips that are vital for nearly every type of electronic system," said CEO Haviv Ilan.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Social media and video networks have become the main source of news in the US, overtaking traditional TV channels and news websites, research suggests. More than half (54%) of people get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube -- overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%), according to the Reuters Institute. "The rise of social media and personality-based news is not unique to the United States, but changes seem to be happening faster -- and with more impact -- than in other countries," a report found. Podcaster Joe Rogan was the most widely-seen personality, with almost a quarter (22%) of the population saying they had come across news or commentary from him in the previous week. The report's author Nic Newman said the rise of social video and personality-driven news "represents another significant challenge for traditional publishers." Other key findings from the report include:
- TikTok is the fastest-growing social and video platform, now used for news by 17% globally (up 4% from last year).
- AI chatbot use for news is increasing, especially among under-25s, where it's twice as popular as in the general population.
- Most people believe AI will reduce transparency, accuracy, and trust in news.
- Across all age groups, trusted news brands with proven accuracy remain valued, even if used less frequently.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: While Silicon Valley executives like those from Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI are grabbing headlines for trading their Brunello Cucinelli vests for Army Reserve uniforms, a quieter transformation has been underway in the U.S. Navy. How so? Well, the Navy's chief technology officer, Justin Fanelli, says he has spent the last two and a half years cutting through the red tape and shrinking the protracted procurement cycles that once made working with the military a nightmare for startups. The efforts represent a less visible but potentially more meaningful remaking that aims to see the government move faster and be smarter about where it's committing dollars.

"We're more open for business and partnerships than we've ever been before," Fanelli told TechCrunch in a recent episode of StrictlyVC Download. "We're humble and listening more than before, and we recognize that if an organization shows us how we can do business differently, we want that to be a partnership." Right now, many of these partnerships are being facilitated through what Fanelli calls the Navy's innovation adoption kit, a series of frameworks and tools that aim to bridge the so-called Valley of Death, where promising tech dies on its path from prototype to production. "Your granddaddy's government had a spaghetti chart for how to get in," Fanelli said. "Now it's a funnel, and we are saying, if you can show that you have outsized outcomes, then we want to designate you as an enterprise service."

In one recent case, the Navy went from a Request for Proposal (RFP) to pilot deployment in under six months with Via, an eight-year-old, Somerville, Massachusetts-based cybersecurity startup that helps big organizations protect sensitive data and digital identities through, in part, decentralization, meaning the data isn't stored in one central spot that can be hacked. (Another of Via's clients is the U.S. Air Force.) The Navy's new approach operates on what Fanelli calls a "horizon" model, borrowed and adapted from McKinsey's innovation framework. Companies move through three phases: evaluation, structured piloting, and scaling to enterprise services. The key difference from traditional government contracting, Fanelli says, is that the Navy now leads with problems rather than predetermined solutions. "Instead of specifying, 'Hey, we'd like this problem solved in a way that we've always had it,' we just say, 'We have a problem, who wants to solve this, and how will you solve it?'" Fanelli said.

The Trump Organization on Monday unveiled a mobile phone plan and a $499 smartphone that is set to launch in September. CNBC: The new service, Trump Mobile, will offer a $47.45-per-month plan that includes "unlimited" talk, text and data, as well as roadside assistance and a "Telehealth and Pharmacy Benefit," according to its website. The company, owned by President Donald Trump, also announced it will sell a "T1" smartphone, which appears to feature a gold-colored metal case etched with an American flag. Further reading: I Tried Pre-Ordering the Trump Phone. The Page Failed and It Charged My Credit Card the Wrong Amount.

"Walmart is bringing drone deliveries to three more states," reports CNBC: On Thursday, the big-box retailer said it plans to launch the speedier delivery option at 100 stores in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa within the coming year. With the expansion, Walmart's drone deliveries will be available in a total of five states: [parts of northwest] Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and [the Dallas-Fort Worth area of] Texas... The drone operator will have an up to a six-mile range from stores.
Walmart tells CNBC the most frequently delivered items include ice cream, fresh fruit, and pet food, as well as "urgent items, such as hamburger buns for a cookout, eggs to make brownies or Tylenol or cold medicine needed when sick." It's all part of Walmart's effort to compete with Amazon: With more than 4,600 Walmart stores across the U.S., the retailer has used its large footprint to get online orders to customers faster. It has an Express Delivery service that drops purchases at customers' doors in as fast as 30 minutes, along with InHome, a subscription-based service, that puts items directly into people's fridges. The company began same-day prescription deliveries last fall and has expanded the service across the country.... Walmart stores have an assortment of over 150,000 items in a location. Over 50% of those can be delivered by drone, said Greg Cathey [Walmart's senior VP for U.S. transformation and innovation]...

Walmart's drone delivery count so far is modest. The company did not share the specific count, but said it has racked up a total of more than 150,000 drone deliveries since 2021.

The state of New York is "asking companies to disclose whether AI is the reason for their layoffs," reports Entrepreneur: The move applies to New York State's existing Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) system and took effect in March, Bloomberg reported. New York is the first state in the U.S. to add the disclosure, which could help regulators understand AI's effects on the labor market.

The change takes the form of a checkbox added to a form employers fill out at least 90 days before a mass layoff or plant closure through the WARN system. Companies have to select whether "technological innovation or automation" is a reason for job cuts. If they choose that option, they are directed to a second menu where they are asked to name the specific technology responsible for layoffs, like AI or robots.

America's federal government is building a website and API called ai.gov to "accelerate government innovation with AI", according to an early version spotted by 404 Media that was posted on GitHub by the U.S. government's General Services Administration.

That site "is supposed to launch on July 4," according to 404 Media's report, "and will include an analytics feature that shows how much a specific government team is using AI..." AI.gov appears to be an early step toward pushing AI tools into agencies across the government, code published on Github shows....

The early version of the page suggests that its API will integrate with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic products. But code for the API shows they are also working on integrating with Amazon Web Services' Bedrock and Meta's LLaMA. The page suggests it will also have an AI-powered chatbot, though it doesn't explain what it will do... Currently, AI.gov redirects to whitehouse.gov. The demo website is linked to from Github (archive here) and is hosted on cloud.gov on what appears to be a staging environment. The text on the page does not show up on other websites, suggesting that it is not generic placeholder text...

In February, 404 Media obtained leaked audio from a meeting in which [the director of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services] told his team they would be creating "AI coding agents" that would write software across the entire government, and said he wanted to use AI to analyze government contracts.

Meta's CTO, Palantir's CTO, and OpenAI's chief product officer are being appointed as lieutenant colonels in America's Army Reserve, reports The Register. (Along with OpenAI's former chief revenue officer).

They've all signed up for Detachment 201: Executive Innovation Corps, "an effort to recruit senior tech executives to serve part-time in the Army Reserve as senior advisors," according to the official statement. "In this role they will work on targeted projects to help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems..." "Our primary role will be to serve as technical experts advising the Army's modernization efforts," [Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth] said on X...

As for Open AI's involvement, the company has been building its ties with the military-technology complex for some years now. Like Meta, OpenAI is working with Anduril on military ideas and last year scandalized some by watering down its past commitment to developing non-military products only. The Army wasn't answering questions on Friday but an article referenced by [OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin] Weil indicated that the four will have to serve a minimum of 120 hours a year, can work remotely, and won't have to pass basic training...

"America wins when we unite the dynamism of American innovation with the military's vital missions," [Palantir CTO Shyam] Sankar said on X. "This was the key to our triumphs in the 20th century. It can help us win again. I'm humbled by this new opportunity to serve my country, my home, America."

Last week America's financial aid program announced that "the rate of fraud through stolen identities has reached a level that imperils the federal student aid programs."

Or, as the Associated Press suggests: Online classes + AI = financial aid fraud. "In some cases, professors discover almost no one in their class is real..." Fake college enrollments have been surging as crime rings deploy "ghost students" — chatbots that join online classrooms and stay just long enough to collect a financial aid check... Students get locked out of the classes they need to graduate as bots push courses over their enrollment limits.

And victims of identity theft who discover loans fraudulently taken out in their names must go through months of calling colleges, the Federal Student Aid office and loan servicers to try to get the debt erased. [Last week], the U.S. Education Department introduced a temporary rule requiring students to show colleges a government-issued ID to prove their identity... "The rate of fraud through stolen identities has reached a level that imperils the federal student aid program," the department said in its guidance to colleges.

An Associated Press analysis of fraud reports obtained through a public records request shows California colleges in 2024 reported 1.2 million fraudulent applications, which resulted in 223,000 suspected fake enrollments. Other states are affected by the same problem, but with 116 community colleges, California is a particularly large target. Criminals stole at least $11.1 million in federal, state and local financial aid from California community colleges last year that could not be recovered, according to the reports... Scammers frequently use AI chatbots to carry out the fraud, targeting courses that are online and allow students to watch lectures and complete coursework on their own time...

Criminal cases around the country offer a glimpse of the schemes' pervasiveness. In the past year, investigators indicted a man accused of leading a Texas fraud ring that used stolen identities to pursue $1.5 million in student aid. Another person in Texas pleaded guilty to using the names of prison inmates to apply for over $650,000 in student aid at colleges across the South and Southwest. And a person in New York recently pleaded guilty to a $450,000 student aid scam that lasted a decade.
Fortune found one community college that "wound up dropping more than 10,000 enrollments representing thousands of students who were not really students," according to the school's president. The scope of the ghost-student plague is staggering. Jordan Burris, vice president at identity-verification firm Socure and former chief of staff in the White House's Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, told Fortune more than half the students registering for classes at some schools have been found to be illegitimate. Among Socure's client base, between 20% to 60% of student applicants are ghosts... At one college, more than 400 different financial-aid applications could be tracked back to a handful of recycled phone numbers. "It was a digital poltergeist effectively haunting the school's enrollment system," said Burris.

The scheme has also proved incredibly lucrative. According to a Department of Education advisory, about $90 million in aid was doled out to ineligible students, the DOE analysis revealed, and some $30 million was traced to dead people whose identities were used to enroll in classes. The issue has become so dire that the DOE announced this month it had found nearly 150,000 suspect identities in federal student-aid forms and is now requiring higher-ed institutions to validate the identities of first-time applicants for Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms...

Maurice Simpkins, president and cofounder of AMSimpkins, says he has identified international fraud rings operating out of Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nairobi that have repeatedly targeted U.S. colleges... In the past 18 months, schools blocked thousands of bot applicants because they originated from the same mailing address; had hundreds of similar emails with a single-digit difference, or had phone numbers and email addresses that were created moments before applying for registration.
Fortune shares this story from the higher education VP at IT consulting firm Voyatek. "One of the professors was so excited their class was full, never before being 100% occupied, and thought they might need to open a second section. When we worked with them as the first week of class was ongoing, we found out they were not real people."

The United States is mounting an ambitious effort to reclaim nuclear energy leadership after falling dangerously behind China, which now has 31 reactors under construction and plans 40 more within a decade. America produces less nuclear power than it did a decade ago and abandoned uranium mining and enrichment capabilities, leaving Russia controlling roughly half the world's enriched uranium market.

This strategic vulnerability has triggered an unprecedented response: venture capitalists invested $2.5 billion in US next-generation nuclear technology since 2021, compared to near-zero in previous years, while the Trump administration issued executive orders to accelerate reactor deployment. The urgency stems from AI's city-sized power requirements and recognition that America cannot afford to lose what Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calls "the power race" with China.

Companies like Standard Nuclear in Oak Ridge, Tennessee are good examples of this push, developing advanced reactor fuel despite employees working months without pay.

An anonymous reader shares a report: A data broker owned by the country's major airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, and United, collected U.S. travellers' domestic flight records, sold access to them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and then as part of the contract told CBP to not reveal where the data came from, according to internal CBP documents obtained by 404 Media. The data includes passenger names, their full flight itineraries, and financial details.

CBP, a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says it needs this data to support state and local police to track people of interest's air travel across the country, in a purchase that has alarmed civil liberties experts. The documents reveal for the first time in detail why at least one part of DHS purchased such information, and comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detailed its own purchase of the data. The documents also show for the first time that the data broker, called the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), tells government agencies not to mention where it sourced the flight data from.

"The big airlines -- through a shady data broker that they own called ARC -- are selling the government bulk access to Americans' sensitive information, revealing where they fly and the credit card they used," Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement. ARC is owned and operated by at least eight major U.S. airlines, other publicly released documents show. The company's board of directors include representatives from Delta, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and European airlines Lufthansa and Air France, and Canada's Air Canada. More than 240 airlines depend on ARC for ticket settlement services.

"Twelve years ago, a baby was born after someone used bitcoin to pay for a frozen egg IVF," writes longtime Slashdot reader bobdevine. "I, for one, welcome..."

Blockworks tells the story of how it all came to be: In February 2012 -- almost two years after Laszlo's pizzas -- a fertility doctor named C. Terence Lee set about a personal and professional quest to onboard his patients to Bitcoin by accepting BTC for his services. He started with a "Bitcoin accepted here" sign in his window, and then a Reddit post.

"Jumping in to do my part to support the BTC economy. This may be a historic first?" Lee wrote in a post on the BitMarket subreddit, titled: "[WTS][USA] Male Fertility Evaluation." Lee was offering a 15-minute consultation to discuss fertility questions and a sperm analysis in exchange for 15 BTC, valued at $70 or so at the time. "Actual value over $100," he wrote. Within three months, he'd found a Bitcoin customer.

"The patient turned out not... so much having a burning desire to know about his fertility, but he was a Bitcoin enthusiast, and he liked the idea of participating in history, in this ritual ceremony of what could be perhaps the world's first Bitcoin medical transaction," Lee explained at a 2013 conference in San Jose. "So we chatted about Bitcoin. He taught me a lot about mining. That's how he acquired bitcoin. And we did a sperm test, and it turned out he had really good sperm ... after it was done he sent me 15 bitcoins... "

Lee changed up his strategy to only quiz his most trusted patients. There was one couple, who, on their fourth attempt at IVF, agreed to pay in bitcoin for a 50% discount, with Lee walking them through exchanging U.S. dollars for bitcoin via CryptoXChange, a now-defunct exchange operating out of Australia. The sperm stuck, leading CNN to reveal, on this day in 2013, "the world's first Bitcoin baby" -- a baby bought entirely with bitcoin. Thirty bitcoin to be exact, an amount then worth $500, or $3 million today.

The World Bank sharply reduced its global economic growth forecast for 2025 to 2.3% from 2.7%, warning that the current decade is on track to become the weakest for the global economy since the 1960s. The Washington-based lender attributed the downgrade to mounting costs from "international discord -- about trade, in particular," as Donald Trump's tariff policies create unprecedented uncertainty.

The revised forecast would mark the slowest growth rate outside full-blown recessions since 2008. Even with a modest recovery to 2.4% expected in 2026, the bank characterized the outlook as merely "tepid." Chief economist Indermit Gill said "outside of Asia, the developing world is becoming a development-free zone." Growth in developing economies has steadily declined from 6% annually in the 2000s to 5% in the 2010s, now falling below 4% in the 2020s. The bank said that "many of the forces behind the great economic miracle of the last 50 years" have reversed, with more than half of low-income countries either in debt distress or at high risk.

AI is speeding up the work of America's intelligence services, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday. From a report: Speaking to a technology conference, Gabbard said AI programs, when used responsibly, can save money and free up intelligence officers to focus on gathering and analyzing information. The sometimes slow pace of intelligence work frustrated her as a member of Congress, Gabbard said, and continues to be a challenge. AI can run human resource programs, for instance, or scan sensitive documents ahead of potential declassification, Gabbard said. Her office has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the orders of President Donald Trump.

Experts had predicted the process could take many months or even years, but AI accelerated the work by scanning the documents to see if they contained any material that should remain classified, Gabbard said during her remarks at the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington. "We have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously -- which was to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages," Gabbard said.

United Natural Foods (UNFI), a major distributor of groceries to Whole Foods and other retailers, said on Monday that it was hit by a cyberattack, warning of disruptions to its ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders. From a report: UNFI said in a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it became aware of unauthorized access to its IT systems last Thursday, and began shutting down portions of its network. The filing added that the company has "implemented workarounds for certain operations in order to continue servicing its customers where possible," but noted that the intrusion has caused ongoing disruptions to its business operations.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based company is one of the largest grocery distributors in North America, selling fresh produce, goods, and food products to more than 30,000 stores and supermarket locations across the U.S. and Canada. UNFI also serves as the "primary distributor" to Whole Foods, the Amazon-owned grocery chain. Last year, the two companies extended their long-running contract until May 2032.

TweakTown writes that the Switch 2 "has reportedly beaten the record for the most-sold console within 24 hours and is on track to shatter the two-month record," selling over 3 million units and tripling the PlayStation 4's previous launch day sales.

So Nintendo's first console in 8 years becomes "one of the most successful hardware releases of all time," writes Barron's, raising hopes for the future: [2017's original Switch] ultimately sold more than 152 million units... Switch 2's big advantage is its backward compatibility, allowing it to play current-generation Switch games and giving gamers solace that their large investments in software are intact... Many older Switch games also play better on the Switch 2, taking advantage of the extra horsepower.
Bloomberg writes that its bigger screen and faster chip "live up to the hype: Despite the hype and a $150 increase over the launch price for the original, the second-generation system manages to impress with faster performance, improved graphics, more comfortable ergonomics and enough tweaks throughout to make this feel like a distinctly new machine... This time, it's capable of outputting 4K resolution and more impactful HDR video to your TV screen... It's a bigger, faster, more polished version of a wildly successful gadget.
The "buzzy launch drew long lines" at retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Gamestop, according to the article. (See the photos from AOL.com and USA Today.) "The era of spending hours waiting in line for the latest iPhone is long gone, but the debut of a new video game console is still a rare enough event that Nintendo fans didn't think twice about driving to retailers in the middle of the night to secure a Switch 2."

The Verge also opines that "the Switch 2's eShop is much better," calling it "way faster... with much less lag browsing through sections and loading up game pages."

Or, as Barron's puts it, "Ultimately, Nintendo is winning because it has a different strategy than its competition, the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. Instead of trying to appeal to tech snobs like me, who are obsessed with graphics resolution and hardware statistics like teraflops, Nintendo focuses on joy and fun."

International interest in American higher education has plummeted to levels not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data tracking prospective student behavior online. Studyportals, which operates a global directory of degree programs, reports that clicks on American university courses have reached their lowest point since the early pandemic period.

Weekly page views of US university courses halved between January 5th and the end of April. First-quarter traffic to American undergraduate and master's degree programs fell more than 20% compared to the same period last year, while interest in PhD programs dropped by one-third. India, which supplies nearly a third of America's international students, showed the steepest decline at 40%. The data suggests British universities would be the primary beneficiaries of students looking elsewhere.

The sharp drop in interest follows the Trump administration's escalating restrictions on international students, including stripping Harvard University of its enrollment authority on May 22nd and suspending all new student visa interviews on May 27th. International students contributed $43.8 billion to the American economy during the 2023-24 academic year, with about three-quarters of international PhD students indicating they plan to remain in the country after graduation.