Amazon has removed Alexa voice control for the 3.5mm aux input on several older Echo speakers, meaning users can no longer ask Alexa to play or pause audio coming through the wired connection. It's unclear why the feature was removed. The Verge reports: Ars Technica points to this Reddit poster claiming they received a message from Amazon and says an unnamed spokesperson confirmed the change. When contacted by The Verge, Amazon did not provide an on-the-record statement. The message does not include any explanation for why the feature was removed. It also doesn't mention any changes to audio output functionality like connecting an external speaker to an Echo Dot, and it appears that control of the port from within the app's settings menu still works.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ASOS says hackers gained unauthorized access to third-party platforms it uses and sent an "ASOS HACKED" push notification directly to customers, apparently as part of an extortion attempt. The clothing and beauty store says some basic personal information may have been accessed but does not believe payment-card data or passwords were affected. The BBC reports: In an email to customers on Tuesday night, the company apologized and urged customers not to engage with the notification. And it said the website and app are "operating as usual" promising customers they can "shop with confidence" while it investigates the incident. The company has not as of yet informed the UK's data watchdog, the Information Commission's Office (ICO), about any breach.

Exactly how many Asos customers received the notification on Tuesday remains unclear, but Google's Play store says the ASOS app has been downloaded to android devices more than 10 million times. The British retailer has a substantial global footprint -- serving around 17 million customers each year across more than 150 markets. Some Asos app users in Australia, France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland had also received the notification, according to local reports on Tuesday.

[...] Users of the Asos app appeared to have received the alarming notification at around 10:00 BST on Tuesday. Headlined "ASOS HACKED" and addressed to the company's data protection officer and IT teams, it said: "We have fully compromised the Snowflake instance." "Engage with us, or we will leak it," it added, before linking to a Telegram channel. The message left many ASOS customers confused. [...] Meanwhile Snowflake -- whose tools are used by dozens of firms to collect, analyze and store data -- told the BBC its investigation was ongoing, but it had so far found "no compromise" of its platform.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Only a week after warning about the perils of competitor Z.ai's GLM-5.3 model and its advanced cybersecurity capabilities, Anthropic has expanded its Cyber Verification Program (CVP) – or rather, reconfigured it. "For the past six months, we’ve enabled trusted access through two programs: Project Glasswing and the CVP," the AI biz said. "Now, we’re integrating these programs into one expanded offering, designed to give more security organizations access to the capabilities they need to protect their systems." Project Glasswing and CVP launched in April 2026 alongside the debut of Mythos, the company's highly capable and equally hyped frontier model. Project Glasswing gave partners early access to Mythos so they could scour their systems for vulnerabilities before attackers beat them to it. VulnCheck researcher Patrick Garrity was not particularly impressed with CVEs identified by Project Glasswing, noting that fewer than 0.5 percent of the 225 Anthropic-linked vulnerabilities he tracked were being exploited in the wild. And Anthropic's own warning last month about the risks posed by GLM-5.3 somewhat undermines the idea that there's anything special about its own Mythos model. Even so, Anthropic says that its security program has allowed its partners to spot at least 129,000 verified software vulnerabilities between April and July 2026. And the biz claims that its own open source scanning efforts revealed an additional 5,500 verified vulnerabilities between April and October. "Of these verified vulnerabilities, more than 33,000 have so far been rated as critical- or high-severity," Anthropic said. "This is likely an undercount, as it is based on survey data from only a subset of Glasswing partners. As such, we expect the true impact to be at least five times higher." When these might get patched is unclear. The company's own figures indicate that of 5,674 true positive vulnerabilities, 3,014 are high severity, and 1,522 are critical severity, yet only 516 have been patched. Given industry boasting about the cybersecurity prowess of AI models, generating a fix, testing it, and deploying it ought to be nearly automatic at this point. But the gap between identification and remediation suggests there's a lot of slack in the system that needs to be ironed out. Two programs into one with three tiers Now Anthropic's two programs, one intended for organizations and one for individual security professionals, have been merged and reconfigured into three tiers. The AI biz has not explained why, but its stated intent is to tie model capabilities to specific tasks: Defense Access, Red Team Access, and Specialized Access. Depending on the tier, participants will encounter more or fewer blocks on security-related tasks. As a measure of program participation value, Anthropic said that based on five attempts at 10 CyScenarioBench challenges, those without CVP access got blocked on every attempt. Defense Access is intended for security teams at companies, nonprofits, universities, and government organizations that focus on system defense. In this tier, Claude Opus 5.5 faced refusals in 46 of 50 attempts and succeeded four times. Red Team Access is for penetration testing and offensive cyber evaluation, and participants will still face model refusals for model interactions that would cause physical harm or mass disruption. Specifically, Claude Opus 5.5 completed 34 of the 50 tasks with Red Team Access safeguards enabled, a rate similar to what would be expected from Specialized Access. Specialized Access sounds like a rebranding of Glasswing – it's "reserved for a limited set of verified organizations that are authorized to test safety systems that could impact people’s lives or disrupt markets, such as flight operating systems, power grids, telecom networks, interbank transfer infrastructure, and government administrative networks." Those granted admission to this exclusive tier will face the fewest model refusals, not counting anyone using abliterated open-weight models that have had their guardrails suppressed. For the next month or two, program participants will need to allow their data to be retained by Anthropic as part of its AI safety requirements. But soonish, the company's Enterprise Frontier Safeguards program will offer zero data retention. Organizations already granted zero data retention while using Claude Fable 5.1 or Claude Mythos 5.1 can participate in CVP under those same terms.®

Google on Tuesday struck a deal with Constellation Energy for 3,590 megawatts of future energy supply, including nearly a gigawatt of new nuclear capacity, as the search and advertising giant tries to find enough energy to power its datacenter ambitions. The 20-year power purchase agreement will see Constellation, the largest purveyor of atomic energy in the US, bring an additional 890 megawatts of nuclear capacity online by making "targeted investments at multiple nuclear plants." We understand those investments will go toward upgrades to at least 11 existing nuclear plants across Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey through a process known as uprating. "By modernizing and upgrading turbines, steam generators, and digital control systems at operating plants, uprates deliver substantial capacity gains without the multi-year timelines or interconnection bottlenecks associated with greenfield construction," the power company explained in a statement. The other 2,700 megawatts the deal covers will come from other unspecified sources. Constellation expects to spend $4.3 billion to fulfill its side of the deal, and plans to complete its first uprated reactor by 2028. Google is on track to spend as much as $205 billion on datacenters and compute this year, but all that money is wasted if it can't secure power to make its servers and GPUs work. The hyperscaler is far from the only one scrambling to secure adequate power to keep its AI ambitions from starving. Microsoft also tapped Constellation to reignite the Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor – you know, the one that didn't partially melt down back in 1979. That reactor is expected to come online as early as next year. Meta is also making noise about nuclear. The Social Network is working with Constellation to save a doomed nuclear plant in Illinois. Earlier this year, Meta revealed that its nuclear and clean energy commitments now total 6.6 gigawatts, though it's worth noting that figure depends heavily on the successful rollout of small modular reactors, an unproven form of miniature nuke plant. ®

Leggeypics has added a photo to the pool:

A storm has just past at Drury Point beach. This view is looking north towards Scarborough Beach.
The red cliffs are clearly visible, and was the feature that gave the nearby seaside suburb of Redcliffe it's name.
Scarborough, Queensland, Australia.
6th of October 2026.

AegirPhotography has added a photo to the pool:

Afternoon storm drifting over Cockatoo Island on Sydney harbour. Shot from Cammeraygal country.

• Game at Allianz Field in Saint Paul kicks off at 8pm ET

• Last time out: USA beats Mexico 3-0 in romp

• Email Beau your questions, thoughts and jokes

Giving clubs and ages here …

Brian Schwake (25, Nashville SC); George Campbell (25, CF Montreal), Auston Trusty (28, Celtic), Alex Freeman (22, Villarreal), Chris Richards (26, Crystal Palace); Gio Reyna (23, Borussia Dortmund), Brooklyn Raines (21, Houston Dynamo), Yunus Musah (23, AC Milan), Malik Tillman (24, PSV Eindhoven), Mathis Albert (17, Borussia Dortmund); Justin Ellis (19, San Jose Earthquakes)

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Government report finds the country could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves, as well as damaging storms and cyclones

New Zealand could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves and catastrophic glacier melts in the near future, as greenhouse gas levels hit record highs, a new report about the nation’s climate has revealed.

Released on Wednesday, the Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 report shows New Zealand is experiencing mounting climate pressures, which will have wide-reaching implications for the environment, native species and communities.

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Service to be tested in Spain and Portugal this year, with a UK rollout if successful, as pre-loved markets boom

Ikea is to test an online version of its buy-back service where the retailer offers vouchers for unwanted secondhand furniture.

The service will be tested in Spain and Portugal before the end of December and will be launched in the UK if it proves successful. Ikea already offers buy-back in stores, including in the UK. The online version will extend it to a much wider audience, with Ikea predicting pre-owned goods are likely to grab 16% of the UK homewares market by next year

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On a night where he equalled Peter Shilton’s England appearance record, Harry Kane did what he always does

It is a very Harry Kane kind of thing to equal a record. Respectful, no ego, all about the collective. On a room temperature night at Wembley Stadium Kane duly did this, drawing level with Peter Shilton’s record for England caps, and doing so while delivering a performance of Total Midweek Kane.

There were two neat, slick goals, one in each half, the high points of a 3-0 win against Czechia that all but guarantees a place in the Nations League knockouts. England need one more point in November to be certain. At which point Kane will have the chance to carry on equalling his own new caps record, humbly paying tribute to himself each time, saying, yeah, it’s an honour to share that number with a man like (myself).

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Beldina Odenyo was on the verge of stardom when she took her own life in 2021. In this beautiful documentary, her grief-stricken sister Leah attempts to finish her album – and her journey will make you cry again and again

In 2021, the Kenyan-Scottish singer-songwriter Beldina Odenyo was on the brink of major stardom. That October, aged 31, she headlined a gig at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, delivering an instantly legendary performance; barefoot, cloaked and bone-shaking in its intensity. Everyone in that concert hall knew they were witnessing something extraordinary that night. Two weeks later, Odenyo took her own life.

This tender and grief-stricken documentary, which opens a year after her death, is directed with remarkable care by Louise Lockwood. What emerges is a sensitively drawn portrait of a visionary artist haunted by trauma, formed through her teenage video diaries, the words of those who loved her, the handful of exquisite songs she left behind – kept in a folder on her hard drive named “passable demos” – and the determination of her older sister, Leah McAleer, to keep her astonishing voice alive. A deeply painful venture that she understands is itself a product of her insurmountable grief.

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Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 07-10-2026 01:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 16.5°C · Gedeeltelijk bewolkt ☁️ | Min 16.0°C / Max 22.1°C | Kans op neerslag 18%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 16.0°C, Max 22.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 18%, 🧭 1009.6 hPa ↘️ -5.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↗ 228°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 02:00: 16.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1014.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ← 94°
• 03:00: 16.0°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1014.3 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.6 km/u (2.4 m/s), richting: ← 102°
• 04:00: 15.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1013.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.6 km/u (2.4 m/s), richting: ← 91°
• 05:00: 15.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1013.1 hPa ↘️ -0.8 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ← 94°
• 06:00: 14.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1012.4 hPa ↘️ -0.7 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ← 92°
• 07:00: 14.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1011.9 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.1 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: ← 90°
• 08:00: 14.1°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, 🧭 1011.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 7.9 km/u (2.2 m/s), richting: ← 93°
• 09:00: 14.5°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1011.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 7.2 km/u (2.0 m/s), richting: ← 89°
• 10:00: 15.7°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1011.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 6.8 km/u (1.9 m/s), richting: ← 104°
• 11:00: 17.3°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1010.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 6.1 km/u (1.7 m/s), richting: ↖ 115°
• 12:00: 19.0°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1010.0 hPa ↘️ -0.8 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 5.4 km/u (1.5 m/s), richting: ↖ 121°
• 13:00: 20.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1009.1 hPa ↘️ -0.9 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 6.1 km/u (1.7 m/s), richting: ← 111°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• donderdag 08 oktober: Min 14.1°C, Max 22.3°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 2.4 mm, Kans op neerslag 22%, 🧭 1013.2 hPa ↗️ +3.6 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 22.7 km/u (6.3 m/s), richting: ↙ 44°
• vrijdag 09 oktober: Min 12.7°C, Max 15.8°C (Matige regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 6.8 mm, Kans op neerslag 65%, 🧭 1013.7 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 28.8 km/u (8.0 m/s), richting: ↘ 337°
• zaterdag 10 oktober: Min 11.7°C, Max 16.1°C (Lichte onweersbui) ⛈️, Neerslag 7.6 mm, Kans op neerslag 52%, 🧭 1008.4 hPa ↘️ -5.3 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 25.3 km/u (7.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 225°
• zondag 11 oktober: Min 12.4°C, Max 14.4°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.5 mm, Kans op neerslag 54%, 🧭 1011.2 hPa ↗️ +2.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 19.0 km/u (5.3 m/s), richting: → 263°
• maandag 12 oktober: Min 9.9°C, Max 13.6°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.8 mm, Kans op neerslag 47%, 🧭 1019.3 hPa ↗️ +8.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.6 km/u (4.6 m/s), richting: → 276°
• dinsdag 13 oktober: Min 9.5°C, Max 15.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 16%, 🧭 1021.5 hPa ↗️ +2.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 12.3 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: ↑ 194°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 01:15): 16.5°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 16.5°C (0.0°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ← 78°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 16.6 km/h (4.6 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 89%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1014.8 hPa ↘️ -0.9 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 9.2 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.0
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 07:51 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 19:08

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 57 🟡 (Matig)
• PM2.5: 13.0 μg/m³
• PM10: 18.3 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

Het moet weer over schoonheid gaan. Schoonheid is een schuivend paneel. Is het een excuus of een doel, een middel of een afgang?

Pike overleefde vorige week twee dodelijke injecties en werd daarna in het ziekenhuis opgenomen. Ze zou de eerste vrouw in tweehonderd jaar worden die in Tennessee werd geëxecuteerd.

Greg Adams Photography posted a photo:

The Gare do Oriente, Lisbon's Train Station in Portugal. 2026

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

We’ve looked at the betting markets to predict the most likely drivers to win at Marina Bay.