02 Mar 2026
Slashdot
Microsoft Bans 'Microslop' On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
Over the weekend, Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft's official Copilot Discord server began automatically blocking the term "Microslop." As shown in a screenshot, any message containing the word is automatically prevented from posting, and users receive a moderation notice explaining that the message includes language deemed inappropriate under the server's rules. From the report: Windows Latest found that sending a message with the word "Microslop" inside the official Copilot Discord server immediately triggers an automated moderation response. The message does not appear publicly in the channel, and instead, only the sender sees the notice stating that the content is blocked by the server because it contains a phrase deemed inappropriate. Of course, the internet rarely leaves things there. Shortly after Windows Latest posted about Copilot Discord server blocking Microslop on X, users began experimenting in the server with variations such as "Microsl0p" using a zero instead of the letter "o." Predictably, those versions slipped past the filter. Keyword moderation has always been something of a cat-and-mouse game, and this isn't any different. What started as a simple keyword filter quickly snowballed into users deliberately testing the restriction and posting variations of the blocked term. Accounts that included "Microslop" in their messages first got banned from messaging again. Not long after, access to parts of the server was restricted, with message history hidden and posting permissions disabled for many users.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
02 Mar 2026 8:00pm GMT
Hacker News
Show HN: uBlock filter list to blur all Instagram Reels
02 Mar 2026 7:50pm GMT
Slashdot
Motorola Partners With GrapheneOS
At MWC 2026, Motorola announced a partnership with the GrapheneOS Foundation to bring the hardened, Google-free Android variant to future devices. Until now, the OS had been designed exclusively for Google Pixel phones. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Motorola to bring GrapheneOS's industry-leading privacy and security-focused mobile operating system to their next-generation smartphone," a GrapheneOS statement reads. "This collaboration marks a significant milestone in expanding the reach of GrapheneOS, and we applaud Motorola for taking this meaningful step towards advancing mobile security." GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility developed as a non-profit open source project. It's often referred to as the "de-Googled OS" because Google apps are not available by default. However, users can install them via a sandboxed version of Google Play Services.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
02 Mar 2026 7:00pm GMT
Hacker News
A case for Go as the best language for AI agents
02 Mar 2026 6:48pm GMT
"That Shape Had None" – A Horror of Substrate Independence (Short Fiction)
02 Mar 2026 6:45pm GMT
Ars Technica
Charter gets FCC permission to buy Cox and become largest ISP in the US
FCC rejects protests because Charter and Cox don't compete directly in most places.
02 Mar 2026 6:19pm GMT
Slashdot
Editor At 184-Year-Old Ohio Newspaper Pushes To Let AI Draft News Articles
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's largest newspaper, has begun to feature a new byline. On recent articles about an ice carving festival, a medical research discovery and a roaming pack of chicken-slaying dogs, a reporter's name is paired with the words "Advance Local Express Desk." It means: This article was drafted by artificial intelligence. "This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff," reads a note at the bottom of each robot-penned piece, differentiating it from those still written primarily by journalists. The disclosure has done little to stem the backlash that caromed across the news industry after the paper's editor, Chris Quinn, published a Feb. 14 column lamenting that a fresh-out-of-college job applicant withdrew from a reporting fellowship when they found out the position included no writing -- just filing notes to an AI writing tool. "Artificial intelligence is not bad for newsrooms. It's the future of them," Quinn wrote, adding that "by removing writing from reporters' workloads, we've effectively freed up an extra workday for them each week." [...] Quinn, for his part, says his paper's use of AI to find, draft and edit stories is a success story that others must emulate if they want to survive. "It's a tool," he said in a phone interview last week. "If AI can do part of our job, then why not let it -- and have people do the part it can't do?" He added that the paper's embrace of technology -- including using AI to write stories summarizing its reporters' podcasts and its readers' letters to the editor -- is already boosting its bottom line, helping it retain staff at a time when other newspapers are shrinking or even shutting down. Just 130 miles east of Cleveland, the 240-year-old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in January that it will close its doors this spring. Quinn, who has led the Plain Dealer's newsroom since 2013, said its newsroom has shrunk from some 400 employees in the late 1990s to just 71 today. Over the past three years, Quinn has implemented a suite of AI tools with various purposes: transcribing local government meetings, scraping municipal websites for story leads, cleaning up typos in story drafts, suggesting headlines and helping reporters draft follow-ups to articles they've already written. He said he is particularly pleased with an AI tool that turns podcasts by the paper's reporters into stories for the website, which he said generated more than 10 million page views last year. He has documented those efforts in letters to readers and sought their feedback. But the paper's latest experiment -- using AI to turn reporters' notes into full story drafts -- has aroused indignation online and anxiety within the paper's ranks.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
02 Mar 2026 6:00pm GMT
Ars Technica
Iowa county adopts strict zoning rules for data centers, but residents still worry
Though the rules are among the strictest in the US, locals say they aren't enough.
02 Mar 2026 3:34pm GMT
$599 M4 iPad Air is a lot like the old one, but with a substantial RAM boost
Unexpected RAM upgrade is the highlight of an otherwise straightforward refresh.
02 Mar 2026 3:06pm GMT
Linuxiac
IPFire 2.29 Core Update 200 Ships Linux Kernel 6.18 LTS

IPFire 2.29 Core Update 200 introduces Linux kernel 6.18 LTS and a preview of the new IPFire Domain Blocklist for DNS filtering.
02 Mar 2026 11:00am GMT
LLVM 22.1 Released With Backend, LLDB, and ThinLTO Updates

LLVM 22.1 cross-platform compiler system is out with major backend upgrades, LLDB improvements, and new ThinLTO features.
02 Mar 2026 10:31am GMT
sudo-rs Changes Default Password Prompt Behavior

A recent sudo-rs commit changes the default sudo experience by enabling visible feedback as you type passwords, replacing the long-standing no-echo prompt.
02 Mar 2026 8:30am GMT