Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

This week, the US Federal Communications Commission banned the import of foreign-made advanced mobile robots. Humanoid and quadruped robots are specifically named, indicating the true target is robotic versions of people and animals, but something else happens to be an “advanced mobile robot”: robot vacuums.So what does this ban mean? Though it’s effective immediately, nothing changes for now. Robot vacuums won’t get removed from the market, and your current robot vacuum won’t stop working. The ban will instead stop new models from getting FCC approval to be sold in the United States. The vacuums available now won’t be affected, but…

Network firewalls are the workhorses of modern cybersecurity. They are trusted to protect the network, blocking malicious traffic and preventing intrusions and breaches. And for decades, network security teams have built controls around a relatively stable model: users connect to applications, applications exchange data, and security tools inspect packets, protocols, and destinations. Firewalls became exceptionally good at understanding where traffic was going and whether it should be allowed. But just as AI is reshaping every aspect of the business world, it’s also had a monumental impact on how security teams view network traffic and the firewall. AI is driving new…

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has again attacked the Democrats for holding back the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act.  Speaking on the Crypto in America podcast Thursday, Lummis said that the bill could have been passed months ago but is unfairly being held back.  Lawmakers are hoping the Clarity Act gets passed before Congress departs for August recess. While the bill has been drafted bipartisanly, some Democrats are unhappy with the current version.  JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Sen. Cynthia Lummis says a Senate vote is still on track before the August recess 👀”Sen. Thune has kept a place for the CLARITY ACT on…

Halima Begum’s excellent article on the opportunities now facing our new prime minister (Andy Burnham could easily ignore the UK’s falling aid commitment. He would be wise not to, 23 July) sheds a harsh light on the UK’s recent performance in international development.Labour’s amplification of earlier Tory cuts to the development budget is shortsighted, self-defeating and immoral, with even military leaders not supportive of it. It highlights the weakening of Britain’s soft power as well as resulting in a more unstable world.As well as reinstating the aid budget, a fundamental rethink is needed, as currently much “aid” money comes back…

Human-caused climate change made the extreme weather fuelling wildfires in southwestern France twice as likely, and made the conditions driving blazes in central Spain 20 times more likely, scientists said on Friday. Ongoing wildfires in Spain and France have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and scorched huge swathes of land. The World Weather Attribution group of scientists used historical weather observations to assess how “fire-prone” hot, dry and windy conditions, which indicate how difficult it is to suppress a fire once it starts, have changed over time. Greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning coal, oil and gas, have…

The four big hyperscalers have ploughed more than $1tn into capital investments since their race to dominate AI began three and a half years ago, as America’s largest tech groups bet their future on the technology.Combined capital spending by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta from the beginning of the AI boom in 2023 to the end of June hit $1.1tn, according to earnings reports from the four companies in the past two weeks.The massive expenditure is a mark of both the scale of their AI ambitions and the speed with which the US tech giants have turned from capital-light businesses…

After a massive Xbox “reset” that laid off thousands of employees and spun off four studios, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wants to get Xbox back to growth. In a memo obtained by The Verge, Sharma told staff by the end of fiscal year 2027 (which runs through next June), “we will return XBOX to player and revenue growth.” Xbox will also “improve profits back in line with industry averages,” Sharma said. “Every function and studio will own part of that outcome.”Since taking over Xbox in February, Sharma has made sweeping changes to attempt to turn things around. Previously, she has…

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is urging water and wastewater system (WWS) operators to protect operational technology (OT) against malicious activity targeting programmable logic controllers (PLCs). The alert is a fresh call to action that comes just days after a coordinated cyberattack disrupted automated controls at dozens of water utilities in Minnesota. In an alert published July 30, CISA said it is observing a significant increase in threat actors targeting PLCs in the water and wastewater sector, and urged critical infrastructure owners, operators, and integrators to remove publicly exposed PLCs and other OT from the internet as…

CleanCore Solutions, a cleaning-products and Dogecoin-treasury company pivoting into AI infrastructure, announced a Minnesota data-center venture whose operating company is a party to a 10-year colocation agreement with AI-compute company Cerebras.The estimated $800 million contract value comes with a $479 million project budget and up to $500 million in commitments from CleanCore, turning the customer win into an immediate capital test.CleanCore holds 79% of the joint venture. Its July 29 Form 8-K schedules a $40 million initial contribution as $25 million on the closing date and up to $15 million, based on budget needs, within four business days.Further calls can…

Long-tailed macaques, monkeys native to Southeast Asia, have been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2022 after their populations declined by at least 50% over 30 years. Yet, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has twice now declined to consider protecting the species under the domestic Endangered Species Act. The most recent decision was announced on July 14, 2026. Such a listing would have restricted the primate’s import for biomedical research, one of the biggest threats to its population. Mongabay asked FWS for comment but did not receive a response by publication. Long-tailed macaques…