Slashdot reader BrianFagioli shared this report from Nerds.xyz: NVIDIA just put out a new security notice, and if you're running one of its powerful GPUs, you might want to pay attention. Researchers from the University of Toronto have shown that Rowhammer attacks, which are already known to affect regular DRAM, can now target GDDR6 memory on NVIDIA's high-end GPUs when ECC [error correction code] is not enabled. They pulled this off using an A6000 card, and it worked because system-level ECC was turned off. Once it was switched on, the attack no longer worked. That tells you everything you need to know. ECC matters. Rowhammer has been around for years. It's one of those weird memory bugs where repeatedly accessing one row in RAM can cause bits to flip in another row. Until now, this was mostly a CPU memory problem. But this research shows it can also be a GPU problem, and that should make data center admins and workstation users pause for a second. NVIDIA is not sounding an alarm so much as reminding everyone that protections are already in place, but only if you're using the hardware properly. The company recommends enabling ECC if your GPU supports it. That includes cards in the Blackwell, Hopper, Ada, and Ampere lines, along with others used in DGX, HGX, and Jetson systems. It also includes popular workstation cards like the RTX A6000. There's also built-in On-Die ECC in certain newer memory types like GDDR7 and HBM3. If you're lucky enough to be using a card that has it, you're automatically protected to some extent, because OD-ECC can't be turned off. It's always working in the background. But let's be real. A lot of people skip ECC because it can impact performance or because they're running a setup that doesn't make it obvious whether ECC is on or off. If you're not sure where you stand, it's time to check. NVIDIA suggests using tools like nvidia-smi or, if you're in a managed enterprise setup, working with your system's BMC or Redfish APIs to verify settings.

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Robinhood's stock hit is up more than 160% for 2025, reports CNBC, and the trading platform's own stock hit an all-time high on Friday. But "Despite its stellar year, the online broker is facing several headwinds..." Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a formal investigation into Robinhood Crypto on Thursday, alleging the platform misled users by claiming to offer the lowest-cost crypto trading. "Robinhood has long claimed to be the best bargain, but we believe those representations were deceptive," Uthmeier said in a statement. The probe centers on Robinhood's use of payment for order flow — a common practice where market makers pay to execute trades — which the AG said can result in worse pricing for customers. Robinhood is also facing opposition to a new 25% cut of staking rewards for U.S. users, set to begin October 1. In Europe, the platform will take a smaller 15% cut. Staking allows crypto holders to earn yield by locking up their tokens to help secure blockchain networks like ethereum, but platforms often take a percentage of those rewards as commission. Robinhood's 25% cut puts it in line with Coinbase, which charges between 25.25% and 35% depending on the token. The cut is notably higher than Gemini's flat 15% fee. It marks a shift for the company, which had previously steered clear of staking amid regulatory uncertainty... The company now offers blockchain-based assets in Europe that give users synthetic exposure to private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX through special purpose vehicles, or SPVs. An SPV is a separate entity that acquires shares in a company. Users then buy tokens of the SPV and don't have shareholder privileges or voting rights directly in the company. OpenAI has publicly objected, warning the tokens do not represent real equity and were issued without its approval... "What's important is that retail customers have an opportunity to get exposure to this asset," [Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in an interview with CNBC], pointing to the disruptive nature of AI and the historically limited access to pre-IPO companies. "It is true that these are not technically equity," Tenev added, noting that institutional investors often gain similar exposure through structured financial instruments... Despite the regulatory noise, many investors remain focused on Robinhood's upside, and particularly the political tailwinds.

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Ahead of tomorrow's Linux 6.16-rc6 kernel release a number of Bcachefs file-system fixes were merged...

It killed tens of millions of people in 14th century Europe," CNN reports, though "today, it's easily treated with antibiotics." And yet "A resident of northern Arizona has died from pneumonic plague, health officials said Friday." Plague is rare to humans, with on average about seven cases reported annually in the U.S., most of them in the western states, according to federal health officials. The death in Coconino County, which includes Flagstaff, was the first recorded death from pneumonic plague since 2007, local officials said... The bubonic plague is the most common form of the bacterial infection, which spreads naturally among rodents like prairie dogs and rats. There are two other forms: septicemic plague that spreads through the whole body, and pneumonic plague that infects the lungs. Pneumonic plague is the most deadly and easiest to spread.

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"Microsoft's Outlook email service malfunctioned for over 21 hours Wednesday and Thursday," reports CNBC, "prompting some people to post on social media about the inability to reach their virtual mailboxes." The issue began at 6:20 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, according to a dashboard the software company maintains. It affected Outlook.com as well as Outlook mobile apps and desktop programs. At 12:21 ET on Thursday, the Microsoft 365 Status account posted that it was rolling out a fix. Although earlier on Thursday Microsoft posted on X that "We identified an issue with the initial fix, and we've corrected it..." More details from the Associated Press: Disruptions appeared to peak just before noon ET on Thursday, when more than 2,700 users worldwide reported issues with Outlook, formerly also Hotmail, to outage tracker Downdetector. Some said they encountered problems like loading their inboxes or signing in. By later in the afternoon, reports had fallen to just over a couple hundred... Microsoft did not immediately provide more information about what had caused the hourslong outage. A spokesperson for Microsoft had no further comment when reached by The Associated Press on Thursday.

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China "accounts for more than half of global coal use," reports Asia Times, "even as it builds the world's largest solar-panel and EV industries." Much of the world's solar gear is made on fossil power. The International Energy Agency finds that "coal generates over 60% of the electricity used for global solar PV manufacturing," far above coal's ~36% share of typical grids. That is because over 80% of PV factories sit in Chinese provinces like Xinjiang and Jiangsu, where coal dominates the grid. China has poured over $50 billion into solar factories since 2011, roughly ten times Europe's investment, cutting panel costs by about 80% and fueling a worldwide solar boom. But those panels were produced on coal. In one analysis, they repay their manufacturing CO2 in only months, meaning the emissions were dumped up-front in China's coal plants. Any major disruption to China's coal power or factories (from grid shocks to trade barriers) could thus send ripples through the global PV market. China's coal and heavy industries also feed its clean-tech supply chain. Coal-fired steel mills supply the aluminum and metal parts for EVs and panels, and coal chemicals provide battery precursors and silicon for solar... At the same time, Chinese oil and gas giants (CNPC, Sinopec) have set up solar, wind and battery divisions, redirecting fossil profits into green ventures. Another interesting statistic from the article: "In Thailand, Asia's long-time auto hub, Chinese EV brands now command more than 70% of EV sales." Thanks to Slashdot reader RossCWilliams for sharing the news.

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Bitcoin "vaulted to a fresh all-time high Friday, breaking above $118,000," reports Yahoo Finance: Year to date, the token is up roughly 21%, buoyed in part by crypto-friendly policies from the Trump administration, including the establishment of a strategic bitcoin reserve and a broader digital asset stockpile... "At the heart of this rally lies sustained structural inflows from institutional players," wrote Dilin Wu, research strategist at Pepperstone. "Corporates are also ramping up participation," he added. The analyst noted companies like Strategy and GameStop have continued to add bitcoin to their balance sheets. Trump Media & Technology Group this week also filed for approval to launch a "Crypto Blue Chip ETF", which would include about 70% of its holdings in bitcoin. The timing of bitcoin's breakout also comes days before Congress kicks off its highly anticipated "Crypto Week" on July 14. Lawmakers will debate a series of bills that could define the industry's regulatory framework... The GENIUS Act is among the regulations the House will consider. The bill, which recently passed through the Senate, proposes a federal framework for stablecoins. "After jumping above $118,000 on Thursday, technical analyst Katie Stockton, founder and managing partner of research firm Fairlead Strategies, believes bitcoin is on track to reach $134,500, about 14% higher than current levels," writes Business Insider . It's not just bitcoin that's jumped this week. Other cryptos are surging as well. Ethereum has rallied over 16% in the past five days, and as DOGE rose 8% in the last day alone... Additionally, over $1 billion in short positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours as the price of bitcoin surged and traders were forced to close their positions, [said Thomas Perfumo, global economist at crypto Kraken].

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The advocacy group Free Press on Friday blasted America's Federal Communications Commission chief "for an order that rips net neutrality rules off the books, without any time for public comment, following an unfavorable court ruling," reports the nonprofit progressive news site Common Dreams: A panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled in January that broadband is an "information service" instead of a "telecommunications service" under federal law, and the FCC did not have the authority to prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) from creating online "fast lanes" and blocking or throttling web content... FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a Friday statement that as part of his "Delete, Delete, Delete" initiative, "we're continuing to clean house at the FCC, working to identify and eliminate rules that no longer serve a purpose, have been on our books for decades, and have no place in the current Code of Federal Regulations...." Responding in a lengthy statement, Free Press vice president of policy and general counsel Matt Wood said that "the FCC's so-called deletion today is little more than political grandstanding. It's true that the rules in question were first stayed by the 6th Circuit and then struck down by that appellate court — in a poorly reasoned opinion. So today's bookkeeping maneuver changes very little in reality... There's no need to delete currently inoperative rules, much less to announce it in a summer Friday order. The only reason to do that is to score points with broadband monopolies and their lobbyists, who've fought against essential and popular safeguards for the past two decades straight...." Wood noted that "the appeals process for this case has not even concluded yet, as Free Press and allies sought and got more time to consider our options at the Supreme Court. Today's FCC order doesn't impact either our ability to press the case there or our strategic considerations about whether to do so," he added. "It's little more than a premature housekeeping step..."

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It's been a while since there have been any new patches in the Wine-Staging experimental area to note. More patches though have continued working their way from Wine-Staging to upstream/mainline Wine while this weekend Wine-Staging 10.12 is out at 292 patches atop upstream Wine and containing two new patches...

Slashdot reader hcs_$reboot shared this report from NPR: A pair of switches that control the fuel supply to the engines were set to "cutoff" moments before the crash of Air India Flight 171, according to a preliminary report from India's Air Accident Investigation Bureau released early Saturday in India... Indian investigators determined the jet was properly configured and lifted off normally. But three seconds after takeoff, the engines' fuel switches were cut off. It's not clear why. According to the report, data from the flight recorders show that the two fuel control switches were switched from the "run" position to "cutoff" shortly after takeoff. In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots can be heard asking the other "why did he cutoff," the report says, while "the other pilot responded that he did not do so." Moments later, the report says, the fuel switches were returned to the "run" position. But by then, the plane had begun to lose thrust and altitude. Both the engines appeared to relight, according to investigators, but only one of them was able to begin generating thrust. The report does not draw any further conclusions about why the switches were flipped, but it does suggest that investigators are focused on the actions of the plane's pilots. The report does not present any evidence of mechanical failures or of a possible bird strike, which could have incapacitated both engines at the same time.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Contrary to popular belief, using cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools slowed down experienced software developers when they were working in codebases familiar to them, rather than supercharging their work, a new study found. AI research nonprofit METR conducted the in-depth study on a group of seasoned developers earlier this year while they used Cursor, a popular AI coding assistant, to help them complete tasks in open-source projects they were familiar with. Before the study, the open-source developers believed using AI would speed them up, estimating it would decrease task completion time by 24%. Even after completing the tasks with AI, the developers believed that they had decreased task times by 20%. But the study found that using AI did the opposite: it increased task completion time by 19%. The study's lead authors, Joel Becker and Nate Rush, said they were shocked by the results: prior to the study, Rush had written down that he expected "a 2x speed up, somewhat obviously." [...] The slowdown stemmed from developers needing to spend time going over and correcting what the AI models suggested. "When we watched the videos, we found that the AIs made some suggestions about their work, and the suggestions were often directionally correct, but not exactly what's needed," Becker said. The authors cautioned that they do not expect the slowdown to apply in other scenarios, such as for junior engineers or engineers working in codebases they aren't familiar with. Still, the majority of the study's participants, as well as the study's authors, continue to use Cursor today. The authors believe it is because AI makes the development experience easier, and in turn, more pleasant, akin to editing an essay instead of staring at a blank page. "Developers have goals other than completing the task as soon as possible," Becker said. "So they're going with this less effortful route."

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Hardcore Henri Death

C’est une vraie question, selon vous, faut-il vous faire tatouer sur la poitrine « do not scan » ou espérer un au-delà à vous retrouver à errer comme un damné sur un serveur mystique de Second Life jusqu’à la fin des serveurs ? La question mérite bien 3 jours de libre pour y répondre.

Hardcore Henri Death

C’est une vraie question, selon vous, faut-il vous faire tatouer sur la poitrine « do not scan » ou espérer un au-delà à vous retrouver à errer comme un damné sur un serveur mystique de Second Life jusqu’à la fin des serveurs ? La question mérite bien 3 jours de libre pour y répondre.

In addition to Intel preparing Bartlett Lake S EDAC driver support for Linux 6.17, several other recent and upcoming Intel processors are also set to see Error Detection and Correction (EDAC) driver coverage with this next version of the Linux kernel...

NVIDIA software engineers ended out the week by releasing a new beta of their RTX Neural Texture Compression (NTC) SDK. The RTXNTC software is NVIDIA's interesting solution for compressing material texture sets with very promising results for helping to reduce game data sizes moving forward...

On top of this week's release of the GNOME 49 Alpha, other application improvements and more came about in the past few days...

KDE developer Nate Graham is out with his weekly development recap of all interesting things and fixes merged for the week to Plasma...