Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Airbnb might be taking slow steps to roll out AI features to its consumer-facing interface, but the company is rapidly adopting the tech to build product. Earlier this year, the company said AI is writing 60% of its code. In its latest earnings call, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said AI is helping Airbnb create features a at rapid rate. Chesky said that because of AI, the company has reduced time from conceptualization to finally shipping features by 60%. “Today, we’re building, testing, and iterating faster than we could just a year ago. Across some of our key initiatives, we’ve…

On March 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and most of the attention went straight to the grand idea: America had built a digital Fort Knox, the government would stop selling Bitcoin, and Washington could perhaps add more without charging taxpayers.However, the executive order’s operative language was less glamorous but contained several important details that would determine whether the Strategic Reserve succeeded.Every federal agency had 30 days to give Treasury a full accounting of its digital assets, identify the custodial accounts holding them, and review whether eligible Bitcoin could legally be transferred…

Er, excuse me. Hello? I’m sorry, but would you mind taking your … I SAID, WOULD YOU MIND TAKING THOSE EARPHONES OUT FOR A SECOND, PLEASE?I try, in the main, to be a live-and-let-live kind of person. Patient. Considerate. But this patience is being tested to breaking point by the proliferation, the epidemic, of almost-ubiquitous earphones.The world must be shut out, apparently. The wearer has nothing to learn or gain by listening to anybody else in their vicinity. They would rather be elsewhere, plunged into music or a novel or maybe a noisy pavement phone call, which will remain, sadly…

Plastic contamination should be a central concern in efforts to deal with food waste, which campaigners call one of the most overlooked problems of the climate crisis, researchers have said.This is despite the fact that, as the chef, author and activist Max La Manna puts it, food waste management is “one of the few climate problems where everyone wins”.About one-third of all food produced worldwide is wasted each year, according to UN data. In the US, 40% of food waste goes to landfill, where it creates 30m metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year – more than Cuba’s total annual…

Representative Ed Case, a moderate Democrat from Hawaii, warded off a progressive challenger in his primary race on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.His victory defies a larger trend of left-wing challengers ousting pro-Israel incumbents this year. Mr. Case, 73, is also among the few older, centrist Democrats who have hung onto their seats after serious primary challenges.The strongest of Mr. Case’s primary opponents was Jarrett Keohokalole, a state senator 30 years his junior. Mr. Keohokalole argued that Mr. Case was out of touch with the struggles of ordinary people in Hawaii as the cost of living has skyrocketed, and…

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysOnePlus has ceased operations in North America and Europe.Existing phones will receive updates, patches, and support.Nothing phones are similar to OnePlus, and Motorola offers value.Today is a sad day for Android enthusiasts. OnePlus has officially ceased operations across North America and Europe. It will no longer launch new smartphones or restock existing models in either region. The company first announced the decision to leave on July 16 over on its Community blog. OnePlus states that this move is the result of a “proactive global strategy adjustment” and also thanks its…

In brief OpenAI’s first consumer device will be a screenless smart speaker shaped like a doughnut and roughly the size of a hockey puck, Bloomberg reported. Pricing has been discussed in the $300 to $400 range, with availability slated for 2027. Apple sued OpenAI in July over the alleged misappropriation of hardware trade secrets, and OpenAI moved to dismiss on Wednesday. OpenAI’s first consumer device will be a screenless smart speaker shaped like a doughnut and roughly the size of a hockey puck, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the work who asked not to be identified because…

What we learned, Sunday 9 AugustThanks for joining us today. We’re wrapping up the live news blog. Here’s a reminder of the top stories from today: Labor frontbencher Jenny McAllister says the government still thinks they’ve “broadly got the legislation right” on gambling reform but that they’re open to “sensible amendments” if some come forward; Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has delivered an ultimatum to the Albanese government over its gambling reform, saying the party will not vote for the proposed legislation as it stands; Two planes have narrowly avoided a collision on the tarmac at Sydney airport this morning as…

Kimi K3, the latest AI model made by Chinese company Moonshot, escaped an environment set up to test its cyber capabilities, researchers said in a blog post published on Friday.  The news shows once again that companies and independent organizations are struggling to contain their AI models designed for hacking. In recent weeks, frontier LLMs at U.S. artificial intelligence labs at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, as well as the U.K.’s AI Security Institute, all escaped testing environments in different ways and ended up hacking real targets that were not part of the experiment. This is starting to happen so often…

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has formally started the process to force a vote on whether the Senate will take up the CLARITY Act, giving the stalled crypto market-structure bill an immediate path to the floor when lawmakers return in September.Thune filed cloture early Saturday on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, shortly before the Senate adjourned for its summer recess. The chamber is scheduled to reconvene Sept. 14.The procedural move does not guarantee the legislation will pass, or even that the Senate will agree to debate it. But it represents the furthest…