31 May 2026
Hacker News
Anyone can build a platform now. Almost nobody can get people to find it
31 May 2026 12:55am GMT
30 May 2026
Hacker News
Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products
30 May 2026 11:26pm GMT
Cheese Paper: a text editor specifically designed for writing
30 May 2026 10:58pm GMT
Slashdot
Journalist Spots Fugitive Terrorist Using Facial Recognition Software
Slashdot reader Bruce66423 writes: A German court this week sentenced a member of the Red Army Faction - a far-left terrorist organisation that operated in West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s - to jail. [67-year-old Daniela Klettewas was sentenced to 13 years for armed robberies, according to the Guardian, and "she also faces trial for alleged involvement in three attacks in 1990 and 1994: a failed bombing in front of a bank, a shooting at the US embassy in Bonn and a 1993 bombing at a prison.".] She had remained hidden for decades, and the German police hadn't deployed facial recognition software to catch her. But according to the article a journalist did, to good effect. Is the ban on the police using it a good thing? Is it good that a journalist was able to track her down using it?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
30 May 2026 10:34pm GMT
Linux Developers Consider Retiring The x32 ABI
The Linux kernel mailing list has a new patch proposing the retirement of the x32 ABI, reports Phoronix: The Linux x32 ABI for x86_64 processors allow making use of the full 64-bit register file and wide data path but retaining 32-bit pointers to provide for a smaller memory footprint when not needing 64-bit pointers. Linux x32 came to the party late and didn't enjoy much adoption over the years and is now looking at possible removal from the Linux kernel. The x32 code was a nice concept for helping lower memory footprint requirements while otherwise making use of the x86_64 capabilities, but with its limited adoption and x86_64 simply being the de facto standard these days, Linux kernel developers are looking at phasing out the x32 ABI. The x32 ABI was added in Linux 3.4 back in 2012 plus also required updated compiler support too. The proposed patch argues "there is practically no real use for x32," noting that some Linux vendors (like Debian) already disable x32 by default to reduce attack surfaces. "Should nothing happen within the next half year, lets remove code bits around August after the summer break." Discussions about dropping x32 support first started in 2018...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
30 May 2026 9:34pm GMT
Linuxiac
MariaDB 12.3 LTS Debuts with Support Until June 2029

MariaDB 12.3 LTS is now available, with 12.3.2 as the first GA release and maintenance planned through June 2029.
30 May 2026 9:19pm GMT
Slashdot
'Call Of Duty: Warzone' Is Shutting Down On PS4 And Xbox One
Call Of Duty: Warzone is shutting down on PS4 and Xbox One later this year, reports Kotaku. As Call of Duty fully transitions to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (and Switch 2), its popular battle royale spin-off, Warzone, is also ditching the old consoles. Later this year, Warzone will no longer be playable on PS4 or Xbox One... Shortly after Modern Warfare 4 ( MW4) launches on October 23, it will be integrated with Warzone. But because MW4 is skipping PS4 and Xbox One, Activision is starting the process of shutting down Warzone on those older consoles... "Beginning June 4, the game will no longer be available for new downloads on those platforms," [Activision wrote on their blog], "though existing players can continue playing until Season 1 launches. Certain items, such as Call of Duty Points bundle purchases, will no longer be available on those platforms...." Players who have properly linked their platform accounts to their Activision accounts will be able to keep all their progress and unlocks once they leap to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC. Activision also confirmed on its support site that all past Call of Duty games will remain playable online on PS4 and Xbox One. The upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 "will be set against a full-scale invasion of South Korea," according to the Washington Post. And they report that Infinity Ward will release the game October 23 "on all modern gaming platforms including, notably, the Nintendo Switch 2. (The blockbuster franchise has long skipped Nintendo consoles.)" The campaign introduces Private Park, a young Korean soldier thrown into combat for the first time, framed as a classic "zero-to-hero story" against the backdrop of global calamity. The franchise's most recognizable hero, Capt. John Price, also returns, this time as a rogue agent, picking up the story of the Modern Warfare timeline that began with 2019's reboot title... [T]he game features a fictional North Korean leader, rather than Kim Jong Un or his family. Infinity Ward said it consulted regional specialists, people who defected from the North and the studio's own Korean employees. When asked whether the studio is braced for a diplomatic response from Pyongyang (familiar territory for the series), [Jack O'Hara, co-head of Infinity Ward] was dry about it. "We've had state responses to our games before. We'll find out what we all think about each other soon enough," he said... Infinity Ward is making its most significant mechanical changes in years. The game will remove "bloom," the randomized bullet spread visual trick that game developers use to simulate gunfire chaos, while firing guns from the hip. Instead, bullets will exit the gun in the same direction as the visible recoil on screen, rewarding aim over chance... The studio is also introducing Kill Block, a multiplayer map that reconfigures itself between matches using a modular system of interchangeable sections, producing more than 500 possible layouts.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
30 May 2026 8:34pm GMT
Linuxiac
AV2 Open-Source Video Codec Reaches Its First 1.0 Release

AVM open-source video codec v1.0 is now available as the first released version of AV2, the successor to the widely used AV1 codec.
30 May 2026 8:16pm GMT
GNOME Circle Adopts AI Policy and Stops New App Submissions

GNOME Circle is closing new submissions temporarily, citing a large backlog and concerns over low-quality AI-generated software.
30 May 2026 3:15pm GMT
Ars Technica
Grifters, cynics, and true believers: The family tree of vaccine opponents
A new book looks into the long history of people who have opposed vaccines.
30 May 2026 11:00am GMT
Environmentalists turn out in force to oppose Trump coal ash rollbacks
Trump admin wants to rely on states for coal ash monitoring, enforcement, allow them to bypass national standards.
30 May 2026 10:00am GMT
29 May 2026
Ars Technica
Proposed new US funding rules: We can cancel any grant at any time
Peer review now optional, political staff would screen grants for forbidden topics.
29 May 2026 10:58pm GMT