Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-03-16 Briefing

Created Mon, 16 Mar 2026 13:21:31 +0000 Modified Mon, 16 Mar 2026 13:21:51 +0000
4169 Words

A bug impacting Samsung Galaxy Book users has locked some out of their data, prompting Microsoft to remove a related app and collaborate on a fix. Elsewhere, the UK is investing £45 million in an AI supercomputer to advance fusion energy research, while West Sussex County Council’s Oracle software rollout faces further delays and a ballooning £41 million price tag. The Horizon Post Office scandal compensation remains plagued by bureaucracy and criticism, with Fujitsu failing to contribute. Finally, India is trialing AI to prevent train-elephant collisions, marking a new step in the country’s AI adoption strategy.

🤖 AI & Innovation

UK splashes £45M on AI supercomputer to help crack fusion power

The UK government is investing £45 million in “Sunrise,” a new AI supercomputer to accelerate fusion energy research. This system will create digital twins of fusion reactors using AI and high-performance computing to optimize plasma behavior and reactor physics. The project aims to lower the cost and time required for developing fusion power technologies.

India tests whether AI can stop trains hitting elephants

India is piloting an AI-powered system using cameras to detect elephants near railway tracks and prevent collisions. Alongside this AI initiative, the country is also implementing acoustic sensors and planning infrastructure improvements like bridges to protect elephants. These efforts are part of a broader strategy by India’s railways to utilize AI for maintenance and operational resilience.

Why Microsoft just pulled the plug on Copilot integration

Microsoft has temporarily halted its Copilot integration due to technical issues requiring users to enable JavaScript and cookies. The company is working to resolve the problem and restore functionality. Users encountering difficulties should ensure JavaScript and cookies are enabled in their browser settings.

AI tools are making me lose interest in CS fundamentals

AI coding tools are diminishing motivation to study core computer science fundamentals like algorithms and distributed systems. The ease of generating solutions with AI can make learning these foundational concepts feel less critical. The article prompts discussion on the continued importance of CS fundamentals despite the rise of AI assistance.

Quillx is an open standard for disclosing AI involvement in software projects

Quillx is a new open standard designed to promote transparency in software projects by disclosing the level of AI involvement. Using a writing-based scale (from “Verse” to “Lorem Ipsum”), it encourages developers to honestly declare their contribution versus that of AI. The self-reported system aims to foster trust and allows scores to evolve as projects develop.

Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer’s proteins from brain cells

Salk Institute researchers have found that THC, a compound in marijuana, reduced amyloid beta proteins and inflammation in lab-grown human neurons. This early research suggests THC may help clear toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and protect nerve cells. Further clinical trials are needed to determine if these findings translate to potential therapeutic applications.

AI Job Shift: Risks & Opportunities Highlighted by Researchers

A new study by GovAI and the Brookings Institution assesses the impact of AI on different job roles, identifying web designers and secretaries as being at higher risk than positions like janitors. The research highlights that workers’ adaptability, influenced by factors like skills and savings, will be crucial in navigating these changes. Despite widespread uncertainty surrounding AI’s long-term effects on the job market, the study suggests white-collar jobs may be initially more affected.

Alibaba to Launch AI Agent for Businesses This Week

Alibaba is poised to launch an AI agent service for businesses this week, built on its Qwen model. The agent will be gradually integrated into popular Alibaba services like Taobao and Alipay, and developed by the DingTalk team. This move aims to help companies leverage AI for various tasks amid growing demand for AI assistants in China.

nCPU: a CPU implemented using neural networks, runs completely on GPU

Researchers have developed “nCPU,” a novel computer architecture where every component, from arithmetic to the operating system, is implemented using neural networks or runs entirely on a GPU. This system, dubbed an “end-to-end AI computer,” eliminates the need for a traditional CPU and utilizes a GPU as the sole computational engine. The nCPU has demonstrated the ability to run operating systems, compile code, and execute complex programs.

💰 Business & Markets

Horizon redress still a mess, MPs say – and Fujitsu hasn’t paid a penny

A parliamentary report finds the compensation system for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal is still hampered by delays and bureaucracy, leaving thousands awaiting payouts. The report criticizes the Post Office’s continued involvement in administering the compensation and calls out Fujitsu for failing to contribute financially. Concerns have also been raised about potential wrongful convictions linked to previous accounting systems.

China’s JD.com expands overseas with Joybuy launch in Europe to rival Amazon

JD.com, a major Chinese e-commerce company, has launched its European platform, Joybuy, aiming to compete with Amazon. The expansion marks a significant move for JD.com to grow its international presence and reach new consumers. Users are currently prompted to enable JavaScript and cookies to access the platform.

Frore raises $143M, valued at $1.64B, for chip cooling tech

Frore Systems Inc., a startup specializing in liquid cooling for AI chips, secured $143 million in funding, achieving a $1.64 billion valuation. The investment round was led by MVP Ventures and included participation from Fidelity and Qualcomm Ventures. Frore plans to use the capital to expand its manufacturing capabilities.

Alibaba Launches AI Hub, Focuses on Monetization

Alibaba is creating a new business unit called Alibaba Token Hub to centralize its AI research, development, and related applications. Led by CEO Eddie Wu, the hub will encompass projects like the Qwen models and the DingTalk app. This restructuring reflects Alibaba’s strategic focus on monetizing its artificial intelligence technologies.

Tech Billionaires Reject Gates-Buffett’s Giving Pledge

The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative championed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is facing growing criticism, particularly within Silicon Valley. Some tech billionaires are now questioning the pledge’s effectiveness, with Peter Thiel reportedly advising signatories to reconsider their commitments. This shift signals a decline in the pledge’s initial popularity and a changing perspective on billionaire philanthropy.

Foxconn Revenue Up 22%, Profit Falls Short of Estimates

Foxconn’s Q4 revenue increased by 22% year-over-year to approximately $81 billion, but net profit decreased by 2% due to higher taxes. The company anticipates strong demand for its AI servers, projecting exponential growth this year and a 40% market share. Foxconn is a major supplier of AI servers for companies like Nvidia and Amazon.

iFood, Keeta Feud: Espionage Accusations in Brazil

Brazilian delivery app iFood and China-backed Keeta are engaged in a heated competition that has escalated into accusations of corporate espionage and unethical practices. The rivalry between the two companies, battling for dominance in Brazil’s $20 billion delivery market, has become increasingly contentious. Both sides are leveling claims of shady tactics against each other.

Apple’s $14B Capex Plan Signals AI Shift, Below Rivals

Apple plans to spend just $14 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, a significantly smaller amount compared to the $650 billion being invested by major cloud providers in AI infrastructure. The company’s strategy involves licensing existing AI models like Google’s Gemini, rather than building its own, recognizing the rapid commoditization of AI technology. This approach allows Apple to avoid substantial investments while maintaining flexibility and benefiting from advancements in the field.

🛡️ Security & Privacy

Samsung-Microsoft Drive Access Issue

A bug in the Samsung Galaxy Connect app has locked some Samsung Galaxy Book and Desktop users out of their C:\ drive, preventing access to data and potentially booting issues. Microsoft has removed the app from its store and is collaborating with Samsung to investigate and resolve the problem, advising users to contact Samsung support. Samsung has released an older version of the app as a temporary measure.

Scammers are now skipping inboxes and going straight for your calendar

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Microsoft reveals SEO poisoning campaign that baits users into downloading fake VPN software

Microsoft has identified a sophisticated SEO poisoning campaign distributing fake VPN software. The malicious software lures users through manipulated search results, tricking them into downloading harmful applications. This campaign highlights the increasing risk of cyberattacks disguised as legitimate software.

French ad tech giant Criteo loses €40M privacy fine appeal

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Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story

A correspondent for The Times of Israel is receiving death threats from gamblers on the Polymarket prediction platform. The gamblers are attempting to manipulate a bet related to an Iranian missile attack on Israel by pressuring the journalist to alter his reporting to claim the missile was intercepted. Despite his insistence on the accuracy of his reporting, the threats have escalated, highlighting the potential for financial incentives to influence news coverage.

Pulsed High-Power Radio Energy Can Cause Harmful Effects on the Brain (2024)

Recent advancements in high-power microwave technology are raising concerns about potential brain damage from short, intense radio frequency pulses. Studies have shown these pulses can induce neurological changes even within current safety limits, suggesting a need to re-evaluate existing guidelines. The observed effects appear to be non-thermal, meaning they aren’t solely caused by tissue heating.

Samsung S26 Ultra Review: Upgrades, Privacy Display, Still Pricey & Large

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces a “Privacy Display” to mitigate screen visibility for onlookers, alongside improved camera hardware and a sleeker design. While offering enhanced features and Samsung’s AI capabilities, the phone remains large and expensive, lacking Qi2 charging. It’s positioned as a premium device targeting dedicated smartphone enthusiasts.

Tech firms pledge to share data on scammer threats

Eight major tech companies have signed a voluntary agreement, the “Online Services Accord Against Scams,” to share threat intelligence and collaborate on combating online scams. The initiative aims to improve information sharing, deploy new security tools, and strengthen verification processes across platforms to address the increasing sophistication of scams. This effort seeks a unified industry response alongside governments and law enforcement to combat fraud and protect users.

Try not to get scammed while looking for work

Job seekers should be wary of potential scams while searching for work, as frustration can lower defenses. One individual received a series of suspicious links and instructions, purportedly from a recruiter, that ultimately led to a fraudulent Zoom meeting URL designed to install malware. The scammer used deceptive tactics, including fake Microsoft Teams and Zoom links, to trick the victim into running malicious scripts.

💻 Development & Tech

Google paid a record $17.1M to developers for finding software bugs

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Linux 7.1 to Retire UDP-Lite – Allows for Better Performance with Cleansed Code

The Linux kernel 7.1 will remove support for UDP-Lite, a protocol with persistent bugs and minimal usage. This removal will simplify the kernel’s networking code and is expected to improve performance for other UDP workloads by 3-10%. The decision follows a deprecation notice issued in 2023 and a period of inactivity from users.

ASCII and Unicode quotation marks (2007)

The use of backtick and apostrophe as quotation marks is a legacy practice stemming from older computer systems and appears incorrect on modern platforms. The article recommends using apostrophes for both single and double quotes or, ideally, utilizing Unicode characters for proper directional quotation marks. Modern fonts and standards distinguish between typewriter-style and typographic quotation marks.

Attention Residuals: Rethinking depth-wise aggregation [pdf]

Researchers have introduced a new approach called “Attention Residuals” to improve depth-wise aggregation in neural networks. This method enhances performance by allowing networks to learn and adjust how different feature channels interact, leading to more efficient and accurate models. The findings suggest a rethinking of how depth-wise operations are structured for optimal results.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

The sentence “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is a grammatically correct, albeit complex, English sentence demonstrating lexical ambiguity through repeated use of the word “buffalo.” It utilizes the word as a noun, verb, and place name to create a sentence about bison intimidating other bison. First appearing in literature in 1967, the sentence exemplifies how homonyms can form intricate linguistic structures.

I built an ephemeral P2P chat with WebRTC, without servers

A developer has created a decentralized, peer-to-peer chat application using WebRTC that operates without servers. The application features ephemeral messaging, meaning no messages or history are stored. The connection to the chat room has reportedly been lost.

An experiment to use GitHub Actions as a control plane for a PaaS

A new platform utilizes GitHub Actions to simplify self-hosting multiple applications on a single server, eliminating traditional PaaS complexities. The system automates deployments, provisioning, and security updates entirely within GitHub, offering a cost-effective and streamlined alternative. Users can deploy applications rapidly with minimal configuration, leveraging familiar tools and pre-configured workflows.

Spotify Lets Users Fine-Tune Recommendations (Beta)

Spotify is testing a new “Taste Profile” editing feature that allows users to directly influence their music recommendations. Initially available to Premium users in New Zealand, the tool provides a centralized view of listening data and enables adjustments through natural language prompts. This update aims to improve recommendation accuracy and address user frustration with the current system, particularly impacting the annual “Spotify Wrapped” experience.

Microsoft scales back Windows 11 Copilot AI features.

Microsoft has scaled back its plans to integrate Copilot AI features into Windows 11, including functionalities for notifications and settings. The move aims to reduce “AI bloat” and streamline the operating system’s user experience. Some AI tools are now being released without the Copilot branding, reflecting a more selective approach to AI integration within Windows 11.

VisiCalc reconstructed

A developer has reconstructed VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet software created in 1979. The original program, considered a “killer app” for early personal computers, revolutionized data manipulation and business practices. The reconstruction aims to replicate VisiCalc’s minimal and user-friendly design, focusing on core functionality like formula evaluation and cell display.

Matrix multiplication (2020)

This research focuses on optimizing matrix multiplication, a core operation in machine learning. The study explores efficient implementations of variations like AB, A^TB, and AB^T, prioritizing cache utilization and minimizing memory access. By adapting a base implementation and strategically arranging loop orderings, the work avoids explicit transpositions to improve performance.

Why I Love FreeBSD

The author recounts switching from Linux to FreeBSD over two decades ago, initially impressed by the operating system’s comprehensive documentation. They found FreeBSD to be more stable, performant, and consistently reliable than Linux, experiencing better hardware handling and system responsiveness. This experience significantly shaped the author’s approach to system design and highlighted the value of stability and a gradual development process.

Introducing pgtui, a Postgres TUI client

pgtui is a new terminal UI client for Postgres, built with Rust, that allows users to manage databases through TOML files and a text editor. The client offers features like browsing, filtering, editing, and inserting data, significantly expanding its capabilities since its initial release in April 2025. Developers can find installation instructions and usage details in the project’s README.

🏛️ Policy & Society

Repopulate! Repopulate! Two lost Doctor Who episodes turn up in private collection

Two lost episodes of the classic British sci-fi series Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell, have been discovered in a private collection. Film Is Fabulous! recovered the episodes, “The Nightmare Begins” and “Devil’s Planet,” which will be screened and made available on the BBC’s iPlayer this April. Despite this exciting find, over 90 Doctor Who episodes remain missing due to historical BBC archiving practices.

Technology, Ukraine, and AI’s impact

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Corruption erodes social trust more in democracies than in autocracies

A recent study found that perceptions of corruption significantly erode social trust, but the effect is notably stronger in democracies compared to autocracies. This is attributed to democratic norms emphasizing equality and impartiality, which amplify the negative impact of corruption on trust. The research suggests that accountability structures in democracies can inadvertently undermine social capital and overall resilience.

Scientists discover a surprising way to quiet the anxious mind (2025)

UCSF researchers are investigating MM120, a pharmaceutical formulation of LSD, as a potential treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. Clinical trials indicate that a single dose significantly reduces anxiety symptoms by promoting neuroplasticity and easing rigid thought patterns, exceeding the effectiveness of standard medications. This offers a promising new option for individuals with severe anxiety who haven’t responded to conventional treatments.

‘Another internet is possible’: Norway rails against ’enshittification’

A Norwegian Consumer Council campaign is raising awareness about “enshittification,” the deliberate decline in quality of digital products and services, through a viral video and a coalition of over 70 organizations. The campaign argues that this degradation isn’t inevitable and calls for policymakers to increase consumer control and foster competition in digital markets. They believe a better digital experience is achievable through policy changes and empowering users.

ChatGPT “Adult Mode” Delayed After Council Backlash

OpenAI delayed the launch of a planned “adult mode” for ChatGPT, which would allow for sexually explicit conversations, earlier this March. The company’s advisory council voiced strong concerns that the feature could lead to dangerous outcomes, such as facilitating harmful behaviors. Internal debate arose regarding the potential risks of enabling such content within the chatbot.

What are you doing this week?

This article poses a simple question to readers: what are their plans for the week? It encourages audience participation by inviting them to share their activities, emphasizing that even having no plans is a perfectly acceptable response. The piece serves as a casual prompt for community engagement.

How Can Governments Pay Open Source Maintainers?

The UK government faces challenges in compensating maintainers of the open-source software it utilizes, a situation contributing to a broader crisis of underpaid and overworked open-source developers. A key obstacle is identifying clear ownership and payment mechanisms for open-source projects, often lacking formal structures. Offering support contracts or training packages can provide a viable solution for organizations seeking to financially support open-source maintainers.

💾 Data & Infrastructure

West Sussex’s Oracle rollout pushed back again as costs balloon 15 times

The rollout of Oracle Fusion software for HR and payroll at West Sussex County Council has been delayed until October 2026, now costing an estimated £41 million. This represents a significant increase from the initial £2.6 million budget, attributed to setbacks and process changes. The council is utilizing funds from asset sales to cover the escalating costs of the project.

Brilliant backups that kept data alive for ages landed web developer in big trouble

A web developer inadvertently kept an old website running as a backup, a practice meant to preserve data. Due to a client’s IT department hardcoding the old server’s address, office staff unknowingly viewed the outdated website for two years while the client saw the updated version remotely. Despite the IT error, the developer was ultimately blamed for the issue.

AWS S3 turns 20 and reaches ‘hundreds of exabytes’

Launched in 2006, Amazon’s S3 service now stores over 500 trillion objects and hundreds of exabytes of data globally. Its consistent API has become an industry standard, enabling scalability and data protection for companies like Netflix and Spotify. While facing past security challenges, S3 maintains high durability through continuous data inspection and automated repair.

Capacity Is the Roadmap

Effective roadmap planning prioritizes capacity, not just priorities, drawing a parallel to carpentry where resources and maintenance are limiting factors. Work requests must be clearly defined with problem statements and expected outcomes before being considered, and any additions should displace existing tasks to avoid overcommitment. Estimates are valuable tools for highlighting capacity constraints and forcing teams to make necessary trade-offs.

385TB video game archive saved by fans; torrents being generated

Fans have successfully backed up the entire 385TB Myrient video game archive, preventing its planned shutdown due to rising costs. The backup is being distributed via torrents as a temporary solution, while the original Myrient site remains operational. Future plans for the archive are currently in development.

A homeowner implemented a Starlink Mini as a backup internet connection, utilizing Starlink’s affordable standby plan for minimal monthly cost. The portable dish provides reliable connectivity with reasonable latency, particularly beneficial in areas with limited mobile coverage. Setting up IPv6 functionality with UniFi equipment required manual configuration due to a routing bug.

Meta to Spend Up to $27B on AI Infrastructure

Meta plans to invest up to $27 billion in Amsterdam-based Nebius Group NV for AI infrastructure over the next five years. The agreement includes $12 billion for dedicated capacity starting in early 2027, with a potential $15 billion for future expansion. Nebius, partnered with Nvidia, will provide data center capacity to support Meta’s AI development efforts.