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Reçu — 20 avril 2026 ⏭

Videos Catch Amazon Delivery Drones Dropping Packages From 10 Feet in the Air

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
20 avril 2026 à 11:34
There's been a few complaints about Amazon's drone delivery service. "The automated mailmen are dropping off packages from 10 feet in the air," reports the New York Post, "rendering the contents of each box susceptible to crashing and smashing." One example? Tamara Hancock filmed a drone delivering a bottle of Torani flavoring syrup to her home in Arizona (as a test of how Amazon handled fragile items). It was delivered it in a plastic bottle — not glass — but the massive drone drops the drone from so high that the impact cracked the bottle's cap. (In the video Hancock opens her delivery to find leaked flavoring syrup "everywhere.") The delivery was hard to film, Hancock says, because "If the drone sees me in the back yard, it will not drop, because it is worried about hurting humans or animals." The Post notes Amazon's "AI-charged fleet" of drones are "Outfitted with industry-leading 'sense and avoid' technology, the aerodynamic machines are equipped to drop off eligible items, weighing a maximum of five pounds, at designated areas in 60 minutes or less." The high-tech, however, apparently does not ensure gentle landings. Collisions, including a recent crash-and-burn into a Texas building, as well as several mid-flight malfunctions in rainy weather, have abounded since the drones' inaugural launch.... Tasha, a separate Amazon user, spotted the drone plunging a package near the paved driveway of a neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, its propellers caused other, previously delivered parcels to blow away, sending one into the street... In a statement to The Post, Amazon said it apologized for one of the "rare instances when products don't arrive as expected." Amazon's drone fleet has been running since late 2024, the Post adds, and are now offering "ultra-fast" shipping in U.S. states including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Kansas and Texas. The machines do seem massive. I'm surprised neighbors aren't complaining about the noise...

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On en sait plus sur les Intel Panther Lake spécialement prévus pour les consoles portables !

✇Hardware & Co - Actualités
Par : contact@hardwareand.co (David Sergent)
20 avril 2026 à 11:20

Nous en parlions déjà début janvier, alors que le CES 2026 battait son plein : Intel prépare une version optimisée pour les consoles portables de ses processeurs Panther Lake. À l'époque, il se disait que les deux processeurs prévus par le fabricant devraient porter les noms d'Intel Core G3 et Intel...

[Bon plan] Laptop gaming Lenovo avec RTX 5070 115 W, 32 Go DDR5 et 1 To SSD à 1299,99 €

✇Hardware & Co - Actualités
Par : contact@hardwareand.co (David Sergent)
20 avril 2026 à 08:52

Vous vous maudissez d'avoir trop attendu pour acheter votre laptop gaming, car vous le vouliez avec 32 Go de RAM et 1 To de SSD et vous voyez maintenant les prix augmenter fortement ? Voici peut-être l'offre que vous espériez encore voir apparaitre, car il devient effectivement très rare de croiser...

Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2026 : quand les startups françaises montrent la voie sur les matériaux du futur

✇le blog auto
Par : David Christian Koskas
20 avril 2026 à 08:07

C’est dans le cadre majestueux de l’Automobile Club de France, place de la Concorde, que s’est jouée mercredi 15 avril la grande finale de la 9ème édition du Grand Prix ACF AutoTech. Devant plus de 250 professionnels venus des mondes de l’automobile, de la tech, de la finance et des médias, six startups se sont livré une bataille d’idées et de pitchs pour décrocher les trophées les plus convoités de l’innovation automobile française. Au terme d’une soirée animée par Richard de Cabrol, fondateur du concours, et Simon Degiovanni, le jury a rendu son verdict : les grandes gagnantes s’appellent Altrove, Bloomineral et IoT.Bzh.

Mais au-delà des noms des lauréats, c’est le message porté par cette édition qui frappe : en 2026, l’innovation automobile ne se joue plus seulement dans la performance électrique ou la connectivité — elle se joue dans la chimie des matériaux, la souveraineté industrielle et l’intelligence artificielle appliquée à la matière elle-même. Un signal fort, alors que la dépendance européenne aux terres rares chinoises n’a jamais été aussi préoccupante.

Le Grand Prix ACF : Altrove — Trouver les matériaux de demain grâce à l’IA

C’est Thibaud Martin, PDG et cofondateur de cette startup parisienne, qui monte le premier sur scène pour recevoir le Grand Prix ACF, récompense suprême de la catégorie des startups matures.

Le défi qu’Altrove s’est fixé est ambitieux : remplacer les matériaux inorganiques critiques utilisés dans l’industrie automobile, ceux dont la chaîne d’approvisionnement est fragile, coûteuse et géopolitiquement risquée. Pour y parvenir, l’entreprise a mis au point une plateforme d’intelligence artificielle propriétaire capable de prédire et concevoir des alternatives moléculaires en quelques mois seulement — là où les procédés classiques de laboratoire nécessitent des années d’essais. Un gain de temps considérable, avec à la clé une réduction des coûts de production et un renforcement de la souveraineté technologique européenne. altrove.ai

Le Prix Pionnier ACF + Mention Greentech : Bloomineral — Le minéral qui veut décarboner la voiture

Double récompense pour Caroline Thaler, PDG et fondatrice de Bloomineral, installée sur le plateau de Saclay. Sa startup repart à la fois avec le Prix Pionnier ACF — dédié aux jeunes pousses en phase amorçage — et la Mention Greentech, qui distingue la solution présentant le meilleur bénéfice environnemental.

L’innovation de Bloomineral repose sur la mise au point d’un matériau minéral dit « carbone-négatif » : concrètement, son processus de production absorbe plus de CO₂ qu’il n’en génère. Destiné à substituer des minéraux polluants dans de nombreux composants automobiles — aussi bien dans les plastiques que dans les batteries —, ce matériau répond simultanément à deux urgences industrielles : la réduction des émissions et la diminution de la dépendance aux ressources critiques importées. Une double casquette environnementale et stratégique qui a clairement séduit le jury. bloomineral.com

Le 1er Prix de l’Industrialisation : IoT.Bzh — Six ans après la victoire, la preuve par les faits

Nouveauté de cette 9ème édition : la création du Prix de l’Industrialisation, remis conjointement par Luc Châtel, Président de la PFA (Plateforme de la Filière Automobile), et François-Xavier de Thieulloy, Directeur du Pôle Expertise de Bpifrance. Ce trophée inédit récompense non pas une innovation émergente, mais une innovation qui a su, dans la durée, se transformer en véritable succès industriel et commercial.

Le choix s’est porté sur IoT.Bzh, société lorientaise spécialisée dans la cybersécurité des systèmes embarqués automobiles, et son directeur général Yann Bodere. L’entreprise n’est pas une inconnue dans les couloirs du Grand Prix ACF : elle y avait décroché le titre suprême en 2020. Six ans plus tard, la startup bretonne a tenu toutes ses promesses — portefeuille clients en constante expansion, déploiement industriel réussi, reconnaissance sectorielle établie. Une trajectoire exemplaire qui justifie pleinement cette récompense inédite. iot.bzh

Une édition au diapason de l’industrie

Ce qui ressort de cette soirée, c’est une convergence remarquable entre les préoccupations de l’industrie automobile mondiale et les solutions portées par les finalistes. Matériaux critiques, souveraineté des approvisionnements, cybersécurité des véhicules connectés : les startups récompensées en 2026 s’attaquent exactement aux angles morts que les grands constructeurs peinent à adresser seuls.

Plus de 100 dossiers représentant 28 pays avaient été soumis pour cette édition — un niveau de participation record qui confirme le rayonnement international du concours, créé en 2017 sous le patronage de l’Automobile Club de France et de l’ESSEC. La prochaine édition marquera les 10 ans du Grand Prix ACF AutoTech. Nul doute que Richard de Cabrol et son équipe feront de 2027 un millésime exceptionnel.

Notre Avis

À l’heure où l’industrie automobile européenne subit de plein fouet la pression de la concurrence asiatique, les suppressions de postes et les fermetures d’usines, le Grand Prix ACF AutoTech rappelle qu’il existe un tissu entrepreneurial innovant, ancré sur le territoire français, capable d’apporter des réponses concrètes et scalables aux défis de la filière. Altrove, Bloomineral et IoT.Bzh incarnent cette capacité d’invention. À suivre de très près.

Revivez toute la soirée de la finale en replay : Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2026 — Replay complet sur YouTube

Plus d’informations sur le concours, les trophées, le jury et les partenaires : grandprixacfautotech.com

L’article Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2026 : quand les startups françaises montrent la voie sur les matériaux du futur est apparu en premier sur Le Blog Auto.

Zoom Partners With Sam Altman's Iris-Scanning Company To Offer Callers Verifications of Humanness

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
20 avril 2026 à 07:34
Zoom "has partnered with World, Sam Altman's iris-scanning identity company (previously known as Worldcoin), " reports Digital Trends, "to add real-time human verification inside meetings." Zoom is now inviting organizations to join the beta version of the rollout, which Digital Trends says "lets hosts confirm that every face on the call belongs to a real person, not an AI-generated imposter. " For those wondering how World's Deep Face technology works, it includes a three-step process. It cross-references a signed image from a user's original Orb registration, a live face scan from the device, and the frame of the video that's visible to the other participants in the meeting. Only when the three samples match does a "Verified Human" badge appear next to the user's name... Hosts can also make Deep Face verification mandatory for joining meetings, preventing unverified participants from joining entirely. Mid-call, on-the-spot checks are also possible...

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CPU Intel Nova Lake-S : au tour des quantités de Cache L3 et de bLLC de fuiter ?

✇Hardware & Co - Actualités
Par : contact@hardwareand.co (David Sergent)
20 avril 2026 à 07:04

Il y a tout juste une semaine, nous vous parlions d'une rumeur émanant de VideoCardz. Le site affirmait avoir mis la main sur un document interne à Intel présentant 13 références différentes de processeurs Nova Lake-S au socket LGA1954. Des déclinaisons cependant "préliminaires", laissant la porte o...

Brave Browser Introduces 'Origin', a Pay-Once 'Minimalist' Browser

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
20 avril 2026 à 04:34
The Brave browser "has introduced Brave Origin, a stripped-down version of its browser that removes built-in monetization features like Rewards and other extras tied to its business model," writes Slashdot reader BrianFagioli" The stripped-down browser is available either as a separate browser download or as an upgrade to the existing Brave install, unlocked through a one-time purchase that can be activated across multiple devices. The idea is simple on paper: pay once, and you get a cleaner, more minimal browsing experience without the add-ons that fund Brave's ecosystem. What makes the move unusual is the pricing model itself. While paying to support a browser is not controversial, charging users specifically to remove features raises questions about whether those additions are seen as value or clutter. The situation gets even stranger on Linux, where Brave Origin is reportedly available at no cost, creating an uneven experience across platforms and leaving some users wondering why they are being asked to pay for something others get for free.

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Blue Origin Rocket Launches, Successfully Reuses Booster - But Loses Satellite

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
20 avril 2026 à 02:50
SpaceNews reports: Blue Origin's New Glenn suffered a malfunction of its second stage on the rocket's third flight April 19, stranding its payload in an unrecoverable "off-nominal" orbit and dealing the company a setback as it seeks to increase its flight rate... AST SpaceMobile had planned to launch 45 to 60 satellites this year for its D2D constellation, but BlueBird 7 is the first to launch since BlueBird 6 launched on an Indian LVM3 rocket in December. AST SpaceMobile still expects to have 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year, the article notes. (In an earnings call in March, AST SpaceMobile's CEO had promised they'd soon start "stacking" satellites, "batched in groups of either three, four, six or eight in a single launch.") He'd added that "To support our launch cadence during 2026, we expect the New Glenn booster to be reused every 30 days or less..." There's some good news there, SpaceNews points out, since today saw the first successful reflight of a New Glenn first stage rocket: The booster, called "Never Tell Me The Odds" by Blue Origin, touched down on the company's landing platform, Jacklyn, in the Atlantic Ocean nearly nine and a half minutes after liftoff. The booster launched NASA's ESCAPADE Mars mission on the NG-2 flight in November. However, the booster reuse on NG-3 was only partial since the stage's biggest component, its BE-4 engines, was new. "With our first refurbished booster we elected to replace all seven engines and test out a few upgrades including a thermal protection system on one of the engine nozzles," Dave Limp, chief executive of Blue Origin, said in an April 13 social media post. "We plan to use the engines we flew for NG-2 on future flights." The satellite will now be "de-orbited", AST SpaceMobile said in a statement. (They added that "The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company's insurance policy.") Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

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Voyager 1 is Running Out of Power. NASA Just Switched Part of It Off

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 23:49
After 49 years of space travel, Voyager 1 "is running out of power," reports NPR: The spacecraft runs on a radioisotope thermoelectric generator — a device that converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. It carries no solar panels, no rechargeable batteries. Just the slow, steady release of nuclear warmth, which diminishes by about 4 watts each year. After nearly five decades, that decline has become critical. During a routine maneuver in late February, Voyager 1's power levels fell unexpectedly, bringing the probe dangerously close to triggering an automatic fault-protection shutdown — a self-preservation response that would have forced engineers into a lengthy and risky recovery process. The team needed to act first. On April 17, mission engineers sent a sequence of commands to deactivate the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, known as the LECP, which is one of Voyager 1's remaining science instruments. The LECP has measured ions, electrons, and cosmic rays originating from both our solar system and the galaxy beyond it, helping scientists map the structure of interstellar space in a way no other instrument could... Voyager 1 now carries two operational science instruments: one that listens for plasma waves, and one that measures magnetic fields. Engineers believe the latest shutdown could buy the mission roughly another year of breathing room. The team is also developing a more sweeping power conservation plan they informally call "the Big Bang" — a coordinated swap of several powered components all at once, trading older systems for lower-power alternatives. If testing on Voyager 2, planned for May and June 2026, goes well, the same procedure will be attempted on Voyager 1 no sooner than July. If it works, there is even a slim chance the LECP could once more continue to work. The engineers say they hope to keep at least one instrument operating on each spacecraft into the 2030s. It would leave both still reporting from places no machine has ever gone before.111 Voyager 1 is now 15 billion miles from Earth, the article points out. (Radio signals take 23 hours to arrive...) Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot for sharing the article.

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Reçu — 19 avril 2026 ⏭

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Predicts Humankind Won't Survive Another 50 Years

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 21:57
Live Science spoke with physicist David Gross, who today received the $3 million "Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics". He was part of a trio that won the 2004 physics Nobel prize for research that helped complete the Standard Model of particle physics. But when asked if physics will reach a unified theory of the fundamental forces of nature within 50 years, Gross has a surprising answer. "Currently, I spend part of my time trying to tell people... that the chances of you living 50 [more] years are very small." Cold War estimates for a 1% chance of nuclear war each year seem low, Gross says. "The chances are more likely 2%. So that's a 1-in-50 chance every year." David Gross: The expected lifetime, in the case of 2% [per year], is about 35 years. [The expected lifetime is the average time it would take to have had a nuclear war by then. It is calculated using similar equations as those used to determine the "half-life" of a radioactive material.] Live Science: So what do you suggest as remedies to lower that risk? Gross: We had something called the Nobel Laureate Assembly for reducing the risk of nuclear war in Chicago last year. There are steps, which are easy to take — for nations, I mean. For example, talk to each other. In the last 10 years, there are no treaties anymore. We're entering an incredible arms race. We have three super nuclear powers. People are talking about using nuclear weapons; there's a major war going on in the middle of Europe; we're bombing Iran; India and Pakistan almost went to war. OK, so that's increased the chance [of nuclear war]. I would really like to have a solid estimate — it might be more, and I think I'm being conservative — but a 2% estimate [of nuclear war] in today's crazy world. Live Science: Do you think we'll ever get to a place where we get rid of nuclear weapons? Gross: We're not recommending that. That's idealistic, but yes, I hope so. Because if you don't, there's always some risk an AI 100 years from now [could launch nuclear weapons], but chances of [humanity] living, with this estimate, 100 years, is very small, and living 200 years is infinitesimal. So [the answer to] Fermi's question of "Where are the civilizations, all the intelligent organisms around the galaxy, and why don't they talk to us?" is that they've killed themselves... There are now nine nuclear powers. Even three is infinitely more complicated than two. The agreements, the norms between countries, are all falling apart. Weapons are getting crazier. Automation, and perhaps even AI, will be in control of those instruments pretty soon... It's going to be very hard to resist making AI make decisions because it acts so fast. He points out that with the threat of climate change, "people have done something," even though "It's a much harder argument to make than about nuclear weapons. "We made them; we can stop them." Thanks to hwstar (Slashdot reader #35,834) for sharing the article.

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Is the Iran War Driving a Surge of Interest in Electric Cars?

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 19:34
In October and through November, America's EV sales reached their lowest point since 2022 after government subsidies expired, remembers Time. "But first-quarter data for 2026 shows that used EV sales were 12% higher than the same time last year and 17% higher than the previous quarter. "One factor likely helping push buyers toward these cars is high gas prices, which recently topped $4.00 a gallon for the first time in four years," they write — but it's not just in the U.S. Instead, they argue the U.S.-Iran conflict "is driving a global surge of interest in electric vehicles..." In the U.K., electric car sales reached a record high, with 86,120 vehicles sold in March... The French online used-car retailer Aramisauto reported its share of EV sales nearly doubled from February 16 to March 9, rising to 12.7% from 6.5%, while sales of fueled models dropped to 28% of sales from 34%, and sales of diesel models dropped to 10% from 14%. Germany's largest online car market, mobile.de, told Reuters that the share of EV searches on its website has tripled since the start of March — from 12% to 36%, with car dealers receiving 66% more enquiries for used EVs than in February. South Korea reported that registrations for electric vehicles more than doubled in March compared to the prior year, due in part to rising fuel prices and government subsidies... In New Zealand, more than 1,000 EVs were registered in the week that ended on March 22, close to double the week before, making it the country's biggest week for electric vehicle registrations since the end of 2023, according to the country's Transport Minister, Chris Bishop. In America, Bloomberg also reports 605 high-speed EV charging stations switched on in just the first three months of 2025, "a 34% increase over the year-earlier period," according to their analysis of federal data. A data platform focused on EV infrastructure tells Bloomberg that speedier and more reliable chargers are convincing more drivers to go electric and use public plugs.

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Pancreatic Cancer MRNA Vaccine Shows Lasting Results In Early Trial

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 18:34
NBC News reports on a 16-person clinical trial of "personalized messenger RNA vaccines" which use the immune system to fight cancer cells. "The goal is not to eliminate existing tumors, but instead to stamp out lingering, undetected cancer cells, and later any new cells that form before they can cause a recurrence." Patients still have surgery to remove tumors. After that, the mRNA vaccines are personalized for each individual using genetic material taken from their unique tumor cells. In the clinical trial, after getting the vaccine, the patients also received chemotherapy, which is standard post-op treatment for operable pancreatic cancer... [The article notes that less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it "one of the deadliest cancers."] [E]xperts have long believed that people with pancreatic cancer could not generate an immune response against tumors. But after nine doses of the personalized vaccine, [clinical trial participant Donna] Gustafson is one of eight people in the 16-person Phase 1 trial who did just that, producing an army of immune cells called T cells that seek out and destroy tumor cells... [Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a vaccine center director who is leading the trial, said] it was unclear whether the immune response would last and lead to the patients living longer... New data collected during the trial's six-year follow-up period shows that it may. Those findings will be presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in San Diego. Six years after treatment, Gustafson and six others who responded to the treatment are still alive... More research is still needed. Genentech and BioNTech, the two drugmakers behind the vaccine, have already launched a larger Phase 2 clinical trial... Another team is working on an off-the-shelf vaccine that targets a protein called KRAS that is present in as many as 90% of pancreatic cancers. In a small, early trial, about 85% of the participants mounted an immune response to the protein.

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Motorola Sues Social Media Platforms and Creators in India

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 17:34
"Motorola has filed a lawsuit in India against social media platforms and content creators," reports TechCrunch, "over posts it alleges are defamatory..." The lawsuit, filed in a Bengaluru court and obtained by TechCrunch, names platforms such as X, YouTube, and Instagram along with dozens of content creators, and seeks takedown of the content as well as broader restraint on what it describes as false or defamatory material related to the company's devices. In its over 60-page filing, Motorola has sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from publishing or sharing what it describes as false or defamatory content about its products, including reviews, videos, comments, and boycott campaigns. The complaint cites hundreds of posts across platforms, including videos alleging device issues and phones catching fire. But it is also targeting unfavorable product reviews and user commentary that the company alleges are false or defamatory. In a statement after publication, a Motorola spokesperson said it had initiated legal action "in the interest of public safety" against what it described as demonstrably false claims that its devices had exploded or caught fire. One online creator told TechCrunch "they expect more such legal action in the future, as evolving rules around online content increase liability for creators and platforms — a trend reflected in recently proposed changes to India's IT rules aimed at tightening oversight of online content." A Motorola spokesperson "said the company did not seek to suppress legitimate reviews or criticism and was reviewing the scope of the proceedings, adding that it apologized to creators affected inadvertently."

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Nevada Police Can Now Track Cellphones Without a Warrant

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 16:34
"Nevada quietly signed an agreement earlier this year with a company that collects location data from cellphones, allowing police to track a device virtually in real time," reports the Associated Press. "All without a warrant." The software from Fog Data Science, adopted this January in Nevada through a Department of Public Safety contract, pulls information from smartphone apps in order to let state investigators identify the location of mobile devices. The state is allowed more than 250 queries a month using the tool, which allows officers to track a device's location over long stretches of time and enables them to see what Fog calls "patterns of life," according to company documents from 2022. It can help them deduce where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit, according to privacy experts... Traditionally, police must obtain a warrant from a judge to access cellphone location information — a process that can take days or weeks. And while cellphone users may be aware that they are sharing their location through apps such as Google Maps, critics say few are aware that such information can make its way to police... Other agencies in Nevada have been known to use technology similar to Fog. In 2013, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department acquired something known as a cell-site simulator that mimics cellphone towers and can sweep up signals from entire areas to track individuals, with some models capable of intercepting texts and calls. Police have not released detailed information about the technology since then. "Police in other states have said the technology (and its low price tag) has helped expand investigatory capacity," the article adds. But it also points out that Fog Data Science has a web page letting individuals opt out of all their data sets.

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HP Will Discontinue 'HP Anyware' Remote Desktop, Trusted Zero Clients

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 15:34
kriston (Slashdot reader #7,886) writes: HP Anyware, the new name of the Teradici PCoIP remote desktop solution that was acquired by HP in 2021, is being discontinued. "Maintenance and support for customers and partners with multi-year terms will continue until 31 October, 2029," a href="https://anyware.hp.com/hp-anyware-end-of-life">according to HP's announcement. But HP is also announcing the planned End of Life for Anyware Trust Center and Trusted Zero Clients, with support now limited to setup and troubleshooting, no new updates or patches, and support ending in a little over six months on October 31, 2026. While for Desktop Access customers — Tera2 Zero Clients and PCoIP Management Console — "the previously announced EOL date remains December 31, 2029," sales have already ended for other customers. HP Anyware renewals are available for purchase through October 31 of 2027, but with a maximum one year term, with support ending October 31, 2028. HP says the decision "enables us to focus our resources on product categories where we can deliver the greatest customer value and drive long-term innovation."

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Disney Creates Its Own IMAX for 'Avengers: Doomsday' After Losing Screens to 'Dune: Part 3'

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 14:34
Ahead of December's release of Avengers: Doomsday, Disney has unveiled "Infinity Vision," reports Kotaku, which they describe as "a new theater-going experience that will be certain to transform your pedestrian $15 night out into an exotic $43 one." (Though those prices appear to be estimates...) Disney's announcement calls it "a new certification for premium large format (PLF) theaters," helping ticket-buyers find "a huge screen with the sharpest, clearest color and sound," including laser projection "for superior brightness and clarity ") and "premium audio formats for fully immersive sound". Light on specifics, Disney says they will be certifying premium large format theaters for the Infinity Vision experience, highlighting laser projection and immersive audio quality. The new program will begin in the summer for a theater run of 2019's Avengers: Endgame ahead of Doomsday's holiday release. Now you might be thinking: Giant screen? Booming audio? That sounds an awful lot like IMAX. The most consumer-recognized premium movie-going screen is the coveted throne for big blockbuster events, from Avatar to One Battle After Another. Unfortunately for Doomsday, IMAX screens are already booked for the holiday season by Dune: Part Three, the anticipated return to Arrakis, where Timothée Chalamet's Muad'Dib will begin to go worm-mode. Locked out of the popular choice for doubling your ticket price, Disney appears to have made up a new one... Disney says they aim to certify 75 theaters in the United States and 300 internationally for the Infinity Vision program.

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Can the 'Attention Liberation Movement' Foment a Rebellion Against Screens?

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 11:34
The Associated Press looks at the small-but-growing "rebellion" against attention-hogging devices, citing "a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life." D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton University and one of the authors of " Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement," making him a pillar of the growing backlash against the corporate harvesting of human attention. Along with MS NOW host Chris Hayes' bestselling " The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource," his work is part of a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life. Burnett says the "attention liberation movement" is about throwing off the yoke of time-sucking apps. People "need to rewild their attention. Their attention is the fullness of their relationship to the world".... There are several dozen "attention activism" groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England. Burnett said he expects it to spread further. Some examples cited in the article: "More than a dozen millennials gathered in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and placed their phones in a metal colander before two hours of reading, drawing and conversation." A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.

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Remembering Zip Drives - the Trendy Storage Technology of the 1990s

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 07:34
Back in the 1990s, floppy disks "had a mere capacity of 1.44MB," remembers XDA Developers, "which would soon become absolutely tiny for the increasingly large pieces of software that would come about." Floppy disks also felt quite fragile, and while we got "superfloppy" formats that were physically larger and had more capacity, those were pretty unwieldy as portable storage. Enter 1994, when a company called Iomega introduced its variant of a "superfloppy", the Zip drive... [T]he initial capacity introduced in 1994 reached a whopping 100MB, which was huge number when put up against the traditional floppy disk. Zip drives also had major performance benefits, with read speeds that could average 1.4MB/s, as opposed to the comparatively sluggish 16kB/s speeds of a traditional floppy disk, as well as a seek time of around 28ms seconds, whereas a floppy disk averaged 200ms. Zip drives weren't quite as fast as desktop HDDs, but for portable storage, this was a huge step forward... [I]n 1998, Iomega introduced the Zip 250 disks, which increased the capacity to 250MB, and, already in the new millennium, we got the Zip 750, which took that further to 750MB... It was an appealing enough proposition that big computer manufacturers like Dell started including a Zip drive in some of their PCs. Even Apple included Zip drives in some of its Power Macintosh models from the mid-to-late 90s. However, things started to shift towards the end of the decade as other portable formats rose to prominence, most notably CDs and USB flash drives. Despite their initial success, it didn't take long for users to start noticing a major drawback of Zip drives: many times, they would just fail. It wasn't necessarily related to age or any particular misuse of the disks, it just happened. It was a big enough phenomenon that it became known as the "click of death", and once it happened, your drive was gone. The problem was estimated by Iomega to affect around 0.5% of Zip drives, but while that sounds like a small number, when you sell products by the thousands, it becomes fairly widespread. It was a big enough issue that, in September 1998, a class action lawsuit was filed against Iomega for the common problems. Some of the complaints in that lawsuit were eventually dismissed by the court of Delaware, but others were not, and once the public became aware of the problems with Zip drives, it was hard for the brand to make a comeback. It didn't help that this happened around the same time as formats such as CDs were becoming more popular... And eventually, USB flash drives became the most popular way to carry data around since they were smaller and offered much faster speeds... Eventually, after seeing its profits plummet by the mid-2000s, Iomega was sold to a company called EMC in 2008, and in 2013, EMC and Lenovo formed a joint venture that took over Iomega's business and removed all of the Iomega branding from its products. The article does note that "as late as 2014, some aviation companies were still using Zip drives to distribute updates for navigation databases." Are there any Slashdot readers who still remember their own Zip drive experiences? Share your memories in the comments of that once-so-trendy storage technology from the 1990s...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Podcast 377: L’essentiel de la semaine automobile

✇le blog auto
Par : David Christian Koskas
19 avril 2026 à 04:54

Bonjour à toutes et à tous et bienvenue dans La Semaine Automobile par LeBlogAuto.com ! Cette semaine, on met le pied au plancher — parce que l’actualité, elle, n’a pas levé le pied ! Invasion chinoise en Europe, records de charge électrique, drames sociaux dans l’industrie française… et une route qui tue encore trop. Attachez votre ceinture, c’est parti !

Chine : exportations automobiles en forte accélération

La locomotive chinoise ne connaît pas la crise… à l’export en tout cas ! En mars, les exportations de voitures bondissent de +73,7 % sur un an, frôlant les 700 000 véhicules expédiés hors de Chine. À l’inverse, le marché intérieur plonge pour le sixième mois consécutif avec un recul de 15 %. BYD, lui, vise plus d’1,5 million de véhicules vendus à l’étranger sur l’année. En clair : les constructeurs chinois compensent leur ralentissement domestique par une offensive mondiale sans précédent.

Geely bat BYD et établit un record de charge ultra-rapide

La course à la recharge ultra-rapide s’emballe ! Geely vient de détrôner BYD avec son Lynk & Co 10 équipé de la batterie Energee Golden Brick 900V : de 10 à 70 % en seulement 4 minutes 22 secondes, avec une puissance de pointe de 1 100 kW. BYD reste dans la course avec environ 5 000 stations mégawatt déployées, là où Geely n’en compte encore que 2 100. La technologie galope, mais les infrastructures doivent suivre. Le vrai défi reste là.

OMODA & JAECOO : la stratégie de Chery sur le marché français — Interview de Thomas Chrétien

Chery ? Vous ne connaissiez pas ? Vous allez devoir apprendre ! Le géant chinois — 59,7 milliards de dollars de CA en 2024, +53 % en un an ! — débarque en France avec deux marques : Omoda pour les urbains connectés, Jaecoo pour les aventuriers. Quatre modèles au lancement dès ce printemps, 74 points de vente opérationnels, un Jaecoo 7 PHEV à partir de 35 990 € face au Tiguan. La stratégie : miser sur l’hybride pour contourner les surtaxes douanières et séduire le consommateur français, plus méfiant que ses voisins espagnols ou britanniques.

Xiaomi accélère son arrivée en Europe

Xiaomi dans votre garage dès 2026 ? C’est désormais très sérieux. Le géant des smartphones avance son calendrier européen d’un an et recrute des cadres issus de Tesla pour structurer sa logistique sur le continent. Sa berline SU7 a déjà engrangé plus de 40 000 commandes en quelques jours en Chine, et son SUV YU7 peut afficher jusqu’à 1 000 ch et 705 km d’autonomie. Un nouveau challenger technologique de poids qui va encore intensifier la pression sur les constructeurs européens.

Geely débarque en Espagne avec l’E5 et le Starray EM-i

Geely choisit l’Espagne comme tête de pont européenne avec deux modèles : le SUV électrique E5 à 37 490 €, 218 ch et 475 km d’autonomie WLTP, et le Starray EM-i PHEV à 33 490 €, 262 ch et 943 km d’autonomie totale. Des concessions déjà ouvertes à Madrid, Barcelone, Valence… La recette est rodée : prix compétitif, technologie avancée, réseau déployé rapidement. L’Espagne, qui a déjà vu Omoda devancer Volkswagen aux ventes, est décidément le laboratoire de l’invasion chinoise en Europe.

Zeekr bouscule le marché allemand avec le tout digital

Zeekr, la marque premium de Geely, attaque l’Allemagne avec une approche 100 % digitale : commande en ligne, essais via des partenaires de service, pas de concession traditionnelle. Un réseau de 31 ateliers partenaires déjà actifs, 100 centres visés pour l’été, et des flottes d’entreprises déjà conquises. Les modèles X, 7X et 001 sont proposés à partir de 38 000 €, avec l’ambition de mettre plusieurs milliers de véhicules sur les routes allemandes dès 2026. Nouvelle perturbation pour la patrie de l’automobile mondiale.

Sécurité routière : 246 morts en mars 2026, la hausse se confirme sur un an

Là, on change de registre — et c’est important. Les chiffres publiés ce 18 avril sont préoccupants : 246 personnes ont perdu la vie sur les routes de France métropolitaine en mars 2026, soit 14 de plus qu’en mars 2025. Sur douze mois glissants, la mortalité routière est en hausse de 7 %. Les usagers d’engins de déplacement personnel motorisés (trottinettes) enregistrent la progression la plus alarmante : +48 % sur un an. Un bilan qui doit nous interpeller collectivement.

Clap de fin pour les ZFE : les députés rejettent le compromis du gouvernement

C’est officiel — ou presque. L’Assemblée nationale a rejeté à 192 voix contre 149 l’amendement du gouvernement qui voulait laisser aux collectivités le choix d’instaurer des Zones à Faibles Émissions. Ce vote confirme la suppression du dispositif ZFE dans le texte en discussion. Paris n’avait de toute façon jamais verbalisé, faute de radars opérationnels. Le dossier passe maintenant au Sénat, et un recours au Conseil constitutionnel n’est pas exclu. Le feuilleton ZFE n’est pas totalement terminé.

Renault va supprimer jusqu’à 2 400 postes d’ingénieurs

Coup dur pour l’industrie française. Renault annonce la suppression de 15 à 20 % de ses effectifs d’ingénieurs dans le monde, soit entre 1 600 et 2 400 postes sur un total de 11 à 12 000. La France, qui concentre la moitié de ces ingénieurs, sera concernée. Le groupe assure qu’aucun licenciement sec n’est prévu — reconversions, départs anticipés — et que les activités stratégiques du Technocentre de Guyancourt seront maintenues. Pendant ce temps, BYD recrute des ingénieurs par milliers. Deux salles, deux ambiances.

Fin de la production automobile à Poissy : quel avenir pour le site historique après 90 ans ?

Une page d’histoire se tourne. L’usine Stellantis de Poissy, née sous l’ère Ford en 1938, cessera d’assembler des véhicules après 2028. Stellantis promet d’investir plus de 100 millions d’euros pour reconvertir le site en hub d’économie circulaire, de composants, de transformation de véhicules et d’impression 3D — avec 1 000 postes maintenus. Les syndicats restent vigilants. De la Ford Vedette à la DS 3 Crossback, c’est 90 ans de mémoire industrielle française qui s’apprêtent à entrer dans l’histoire.

Voilà pour cette semaine chargée — et quel tableau ! D’un côté, l’industrie automobile chinoise qui s’empare de l’Europe marché par marché, avec des technologies qui repoussent les limites semaine après semaine. De l’autre, une industrie française et européenne sous pression, qui taille dans ses effectifs et ferme ses usines historiques. Entre les deux : des routes qui tuent encore, des ZFE qui disparaissent et des questions politiques sans réponses claires.

Le monde de l’automobile est en train de se réinventer à toute vitesse — et on sera là, chaque semaine, pour vous raconter tout ça. Retrouvez tous ces articles sur LeBlogAuto.com, et à très vite pour une nouvelle semaine automobile !

L’article Podcast 377: L’essentiel de la semaine automobile est apparu en premier sur Le Blog Auto.

Duolingo CEO Says They've Stopped Tracking Employees' AI Use for Performance Reviews

✇Slashdot
Par : EditorDavid
19 avril 2026 à 03:34
Last May Duolingo's stock peaked at $529.05. But while the learning app passed $1 billion in revenue in 2025 and 50 million daily active users, today its stock price has dropped more than 81%, to $100.51. And there's been other changes, reports Entrepreneur: In April 2025, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn made headlines after writing a memo calling the company "AI-first." In the memo, von Ahn announced that the language-learning platform would track employees' AI use in performance reviews. Now, a year later, von Ahn is backtracking and rethinking how he measures employee performance. He told the Silicon Valley Girl podcast earlier this month that Duolingo no longer considers AI use in performance reviews. The change arose after employees started to ask, "Do you just want us to use AI for AI's sake?" von Ahn explained. "We said no, look — the most important thing in your performance is that you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible. A lot of times, AI can help you with that, but if it can't, I'm not going to force you to do that," von Ahn said on the podcast. He felt as though the company was "trying to push something that in some cases did not fit" instead of "being held accountable for the actual outcome." The CEO is, however, still sticking to other "constructive constraints" he introduced in the April 2025 memo, including stopping contractor hiring in cases where AI can assume their workload... Von Ahn also mentioned that a few months ago, Duolingo had a day dedicated to vibe coding, or prompting AI to create an app without manually writing a single line of code. Every single person at the company, from engineers to human resources professionals, had to vibe code an app. Vibe coding has made an impact at the company. One of Duolingo's latest offerings, a course teaching users how to play chess, arose when two people vibe-coded the first prototype of it, the CEO said. Neither of them knew how to play chess or program, but they managed to use AI to create the whole chess curriculum and a prototype of the app in about six months last year. Now chess is Duolingo's fastest-growing course, according to von Ahn. "At this point, we have seven million daily active users that are learning chess," the CEO said on the podcast.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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