theodp writes: That Was Then: The Imagine Cup competition, Microsoft explained in a 2003 press release, "seeks to provide students [aged 16-and-up] around the world with resources to use technology and Web services to solve everyday problems [...] Imagine Cup is about empowering students to apply their creativity and knowledge toward making the world a more-connected place."

This Is Now: "Building is Hard. Selling is Harder." begins the "Why Imagine Cup?" promo video for the 2027 Imagine Cup competition, which is pivoting to an AI startup-first focus in recognition that "A new era for founders is here." "Since 2003, Imagine Cup has empowered emerging innovators to turn ambitious ideas into real-world solutions with Microsoft technology," Microsoft writes of the Imagine Cup Evolution. "Now part of Microsoft for Startups, Imagine Cup enters its next chapter in 2027, opening the competition to eligible early-stage startups and founders everywhere."

An Eligibility FAQ drives home the point that Imagine Cup is no longer a student-only competition: "Imagine Cup 2027 welcomes eligible early-stage startups across seven categories; founders do not need to be students." And if you think making high school students compete against seasoned full-time employees of startup companies seems a tad unfair, Microsoft advises: "Eligible student-led startups are encouraged to enter the Student Startup category but may choose an industry category instead." The #1 overall startup will win a $250,000 cash award and $1,000,000 in startup credits. However, Student Startup category entrants are ineligible for the open category prizes (where the 2nd-place winner gets $50,000 cash and $350,000 in credits, while 3rd place is good for $25,000 and $350,000 in credits); they will instead compete for a single prize of $25,000 cash and $250,000 in credits. The Official Rules (PDF) note that all startups must have a valid Azure Subscription ID and a Microsoft for Startups account.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Live coverage of all the build-up ahead of the 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend in Brazil.

OpenAI, on Thursday, released its latest cybersecurity-tuned model, GPT-6 Cyber, which the House of Altman says combines "stronger cybersecurity capabilities with better adherence to researchers’ rules of engagement." The new model, we’re told, is much better at finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, compared to GPT-5.6 and GPT-6 Astra. OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra in early September, and less than a month later, killed off the planned release of GPT-6.1 Astra after the model got better at pursuing tasks but worse at staying within the boundaries of what it had actually been authorized to do. The model maker said the latest cyber model was "trained to stay within authorized scope, respect restrictions and report results accurately." In OpenAI's ExploitGym training evaluation, GPT-6 Cyber scored 48.5 percent. For comparison, GPT-5.6 Cyber scored 32.1 percent on these same benchmark tests. "In a separate evaluation of whether the model respects the boundaries of an assigned task, it avoided exploiting out-of-scope services over 99 percent of the time," Open AI said. Only 0.07 percent of cases went beyond the intended scope of the training exercise. OpenAI declined to provide additional details about what happened in that 0.07 percent of cases and whether they involved any real-life safety or security incidents - like hacking companies or carrying out supply chain attacks as its earlier models have done during training. We do know, however, that OpenAI recently began denying internet access to the frontier models it is training to help prevent its models from doing bad things. The latest cyber model is also really good at finding and exploiting serious security vulnerabilities, OpenAI claimed. Its researchers used GPT-6 Cyber to find 81 previously unknown high-severity vulnerabilities in Firefox, which Mozilla has started fixing. The model also helped researchers develop working exploits for 948 Linux kernel vulnerabilities, including 588 previously unknown bugs. The Linux findings are being reported with potential patches for maintainer review. OpenAI classified GPT-6 Cyber as “Critical” under its Preparedness Framework. This is its highest-risk tier for cyber capabilities, and means a model can both identify and develop functional zero-day exploits in real-world critical systems, and execute end-to-end cyberattacks. As such, it’s initially only available through the API and Codex to a select group of approved Daybreak Red customers - these are customers who are authorized to use OpenAI’s models for offensive security actions such as proof-of-concept exploit development, exploit-chain validation, penetration testing, and red teaming. Over the coming weeks, OpenAI will expand access to all Daybreak Red customers, and is also making GPT-5.6 Cyber available to this group, as well. The model release comes as OpenAI makes a concerted push to improve the security of its products. Earlier this week, OpenAI raised its bug bounty reward payments, and added new bonuses for independent researchers. This includes quadrupling reward-range midpoints, on average, for medium, high and critical findings, so a critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex, or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000 - or up to or $51,577 after bonuses - compared to the previous $6,500 payout. Exceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses.®

Microsoft is applying usage limits to more Copilot Chat features for commercial users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, and it won't publish the numerical caps. Copilot Chat comes with qualifying Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions. Without the Copilot add-on, it can reason over web information and uploaded files. The paid license adds broader access to work data, including emails, meetings, chats, and documents. Tasks already in progress won't be interrupted. Once a limit is reached, users will receive an in-product notice explaining when to retry the affected feature. Administrators can't adjust these limits; Microsoft sets them. The Windows behemoth says it "doesn't publish specific limits because they're subject to change." Microsoft also suggests that hitting a limit "might indicate interest in additional Copilot capabilities." The remedy it proposes for administrators to consider is, conveniently, another license. Users may also be offered an upgrade route – although buying a license themselves depends on whether their organization permits self-service purchases. Microsoft explained: "In most organizations, the limit notification includes an option to upgrade. "Users can select it to request a Microsoft 365 Copilot license from their admin, who can approve or deny requests in the Microsoft 365 admin center. If the organization allows users to buy licenses directly, users might also see an option to purchase a license." Microsoft concluded: "Admins can turn off direct purchases for each product." The rollout began on November 2 for organizations with 2,000 or fewer Microsoft 365 seats and is due to start on November 9 for larger organizations. It also applies only to users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in commercial tenants. Web, desktop, and mobile apps are all affected. The change could be Microsoft's latest wheeze to turn included Copilot Chat access into paid add-on sales. Users who hit an unpublished ceiling may well start pestering administrators for an upgrade. The alternative is that admins decide tighter controls are preferable to unpredictable feature availability. Not necessarily the sales outcome Microsoft had in mind. ®

Oud

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Het stadion van voetbalclub PSV heeft een capaciteit van 35.000 plekken en er is een gigantische wachtlijst voor kaarten. Meer verkochte tickets = meer geld en dus wordt de boel verbouwd en uitgebreid tot zo'n 55.000 plekken. MAAR! Door de verbouwing moet het dak er tijdelijk af. Het zou dus zomaar kunnen dat supporter Frank een tijdje in de openlucht zit. Frank: "Ik betaal voor een overdekte zitplaats en verwacht dat PSV die afspraak nakomt. Artikel 6:74 van het Burgerlijk Wetboek bepaalt dat een tekortkoming in de nakoming van een overeenkomst in beginsel verplicht tot vergoeding van de daardoor ontstane schade. Ook artikel 6:248 BW, over redelijkheid en billijkheid, is hier relevant. Als PSV de overeengekomen overdekte zitplaats tijdelijk niet kan bieden, vind ik een substantiële korting op mijn seizoenkaart dan ook redelijk. Ik hoor graag welke compensatie PSV de getroffen seizoenkaarthouders wil aanbieden." Ja is helemaal goed hoor Frank, dikke nerd!

Failure to agree lower fees for EU citizens studying in UK should delay prized food and drink deal, members say

• UK politics live – latest updates

The EU is seeking a firmer pledge from the British government to guarantee European students discounted rates on university tuition fees before a much-anticipated summit this month.

At a meeting of senior EU diplomats on Wednesday, at least six member states opposed delaying a deal on tuition fees until after the summit. Many believe a failure to reach an agreement should delay the highly prized food and drink deal to cut Brexit red tape coming into force.

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UK PM says he wants ‘a new discussion’ with Washington over the disputed islands

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham has said he wants to “recast” the UK’s deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands after resistance from Washington, which said the agreement could instead be modelled on America’s Greenland deal with Denmark.

The prime minister told the Economist he wanted “a new discussion” with the US over the disputed islands, which are home to the Diego Garcia military base.

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⚽ Europa League updates, kicking off from 5.45pm GMT
⚽ Live scores | Europa League table | And email Simon

Hello world! Another day, another smorgasbord of European delights is being plated up for our delectation tonight. There are, to summarise, too many games going on simultaneously for two eyes to have any hope of following but I’ll do my very best.

Highlights? Well [he writes, copy-and-pasting the preview filed by the Associated Press], Bournemouth travel to Sparta Prague in the Europa League with the aim to stay perfect after four rounds. The English side has been cruising in its maiden European campaign with three wins over Milan, Sturm Graz and Real Sociedad. Bournemouth have also surged to eighth in the Premier League after another three straight wins. “We need to be very reasonable, we know that it’s a long way and I especially know it,” winger Amine Adli, who reached the 2024 Europa League final with Leverkusen, said ahead of the match in Prague. “It’s a long way to the final.”

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Women who die postpartum often do so because they lose too much blood. An 80-cent plastic bag is helping solve the problem. “The drape is not an A.I. thing — it’s the absolute opposite: It’s a simple, simple, intervention that can solve our problems.”