Next-generation black hole imaging may help us understand gravity better

But the differences are likely to be subtle, so it won’t be easy.

The Event Horizon Telescope only recently gave us the first images of the environment immediately surrounding a black hole. Since then, it has been boosting the resolution and filling in the details of an environment dominated by the most extreme gravity in the Universe.

But which gravity are we talking about? Because of its incompatibility with quantum mechanics and our current inability to explain dark matter, people have proposed all sorts of variants of gravity that go beyond general relativity and clean up some of the physics’ awkwardness. It’s possible that the extreme environment near a black hole amplifies the differences among at least some of these hypotheses. So, a group of physicists decided to see whether any of those differences might be large enough that the next generation of telescopes might be able to rule out some potential replacements for relativity.

Searching for subtlety

Any replacement for general relativity faces an awkward challenge: General relativity does pretty well at explaining everything from the large-scale structure of the Universe to phenomena we can measure right here on Earth. So, any alternative theories would have to differ from relativity in very subtle ways that might be extremely difficult to detect.

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Wipers from Russia’s most cut-throat hackers rain destruction on Ukraine

Sandworm and other Russian-state hackers unleash data-destroying payloads on their neighbors.

One of the world’s most ruthless and advanced hacking groups, the Russian state-controlled Sandworm, launched a series of destructive cyberattacks in the country’s ongoing war against neighboring Ukraine, researchers reported Thursday.

In April, the group targeted a Ukrainian university with two wipers, a form of malware that aims to permanently destroy sensitive data and often the infrastructure storing it. One wiper, tracked under the name Sting, targeted fleets of Windows computers by scheduling a task named DavaniGulyashaSdeshka, a phrase derived from Russian slang that loosely translates to “eat some goulash,” researchers from ESET said. The other wiper is tracked as Zerlot.

A not-so-common target

Then, in June and September, Sandworm unleashed multiple wiper variants against a host of Ukrainian critical infrastructure targets, including organizations active in government, energy, and logistics. The targets have long been in the crosshairs of Russian hackers. There was, however, a fourth, less common target—organizations in Ukraine’s grain industry.

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Elon Musk wins $1 trillion Tesla pay vote despite “part-time CEO” criticism

Tesla investors back Musk pay despite his busy schedule running other companies.

Tesla shareholders today voted to approve a compensation plan that would pay Elon Musk more than $1 trillion over the next decade if he hits all of the plan’s goals. Musk won over 75 percent of the vote, according to the announcement at today’s shareholder meeting.

The pay plan would give Musk 423,743,904 shares, awarded in 12 tranches of 35,311,992 shares each if Tesla achieves various operational goals and market value milestones. Goals include delivering 20 million vehicles, obtaining 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, delivering 1 million “AI robots,” putting 1 million robotaxis in operation, and achieving a $400 billion adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

Musk has threatened to leave if he doesn’t get a larger share of Tesla. He told investors last month, “It’s not like I’m going to go spend the money. It’s just, if we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army? Not control, but a strong influence. That’s what it comes down to in a nutshell. I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army if I don’t have at least a strong influence.”

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Rockstar Games: GTA 6 erneut verschoben

Lucia und Jason müssen sich weiter gedulden: Rockstar hat den Start von GTA 6 auf November 2026 verschoben – sehr zum Ärger vieler Fans. (GTA 6, Take-Two)

Lucia und Jason müssen sich weiter gedulden: Rockstar hat den Start von GTA 6 auf November 2026 verschoben - sehr zum Ärger vieler Fans. (GTA 6, Take-Two)

Chuwi Corebook Air is an ultralight laptop with a sub-$500 starting price

The Chuwi CoreBook Air is a thin and light Windows laptop designed to offer a mix of mid-range to premium features at an affordable price. Chuwi’s upcoming laptop features an AMD Ryzen processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 55 Wh battery, an…

The Chuwi CoreBook Air is a thin and light Windows laptop designed to offer a mix of mid-range to premium features at an affordable price. Chuwi’s upcoming laptop features an AMD Ryzen processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 55 Wh battery, and a backlit keyboard. But it’s expected to have a starting price of $500 […]

The post Chuwi Corebook Air is an ultralight laptop with a sub-$500 starting price appeared first on Liliputing.

Gemini Deep Research comes to Google Finance, backed by prediction market data

Deep Research and predictions based on Kalshi and Polymarket data are coming soon to Google Finance.

Google has announced new features in the popular Google Finance platform, and it leans heavily on Google’s tried-and-true strategy of more AI in more places. This builds on Google’s last Finance update, which added a Gemini-based chatbot. Now, Google is adding Gemini Deep Research to the site, which will allow users to ask much more complex questions. You can also ask questions about the future, backed by new betting market data sources.

The update, which is rolling out over the next several weeks, will add a Deep Research option to the Finance chatbot. The company claims that with the more powerful AI, users will be able to generate “fully cited” research reports on a given topic in just a few minutes. So you can expect an experience similar to Deep Research in the Gemini app—you give it a prompt, and then you come back later to see the result.

You probably won’t want to bother with Deep Research on simple queries—there are faster, easier ways to get that done. Google suggests using Deep Research on more complex things, like the doozy below.

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AT&T falsely promised “everyone” a free iPhone, ad-industry board rules

AT&T loses another ad-board ruling just a week after suing the organization.

AT&T has been told to stop running ads that falsely promise all customers a free iPhone. The rebuke came from the advertising industry’s official watchdog just a week after AT&T sued the organization over a different advertising dispute.

BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Review Board (NARB) “has recommended that AT&T Services, Inc. modify its advertising to avoid conveying a false message regarding eligibility for an iPhone device offer,” the group, which runs the ad industry’s self-regulatory system, said today.

Verizon initiated the case by challenging AT&T’s “Learn how everyone gets iPhone 16 Pro on us” claim. BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) ruled in favor of Verizon in September 2025. AT&T appealed but lost the challenge in the NARB decision announced today.

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Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI

Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.

Internal documents have revealed that Meta has projected it earns billions from ignoring scam ads that its platforms then targeted to users most likely to click on them.

In a lengthy report, Reuters exposed five years of Meta practices and failures that allowed scammers to take advantage of users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Documents showed that internally, Meta was hesitant to abruptly remove accounts, even those considered some of the “scammiest scammers,” out of concern that a drop in revenue could diminish resources needed for artificial intelligence growth.

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