Docker Desktop 4.42 adds native IPv6 support, debuts built-in MCP Toolkit, and expanded AI tooling.
Starbucks To Roll Out Microsoft Azure OpenAI Assistant For Baristas
Starbucks is piloting a generative AI assistant called “Green Dot Assist” to streamline barista tasks and improve service speed, with plans for a broader rollout in fiscal 2026. The assistant is built on Microsoft Azure’s OpenAI platform. CNBC reports: Instead of flipping through manuals or accessing Starbucks’ intranet, baristas will be able to use a tablet behind the counter equipped with Green Dot Assist to get answers to a range of questions, from how to make an iced shaken espresso to troubleshooting equipment errors. Baristas can either type or verbally ask their queries in conversational language.
As the AI assistant evolves, Starbucks has even bigger plans for its next generation. Those ideas include automatically creating a ticket with IT for equipment issues or generating suggestions for a substitute when a barista calls out of work, according to [Starbucks Chief Technology Officer Deb Hall Lefevre]. […] Lefevre said tenured baristas have been learning to use the new POS in as little as an hour. Plus, the technology can offer personalized recommendations and loyal customers’ repeat orders, helping Starbucks achieve the personalized touch it’s looking to bring back to its cafes.
“It’s just another example of how innovation technology is coming into service of our partners and making sure that we’re doing all we can to simplify the operations, make their jobs just a little bit easier, maybe a little bit more fun, so that they can do what they do best,” Lefevre told CNBC.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Experimental Patch Brings Very Primitive AMD Instinct MI300 Support To GCC Compiler
With AMD continuing to be focused on their AMDGPU LLVM compiler back-end for their GPU compiler needs from compute to graphics shaders, the AMD GPU/accelerator hardware support within the GNU Compiler Collection “GCC” has long taken a backseat and left to third-party firms to implement. Posted today was an experimental patch providing very early support for the AMD Instinct MI300 series hardware with the GCC compiler…
Apple Details Vision Pro’s New Persistent Widget System Coming to VisionOS 26
At WWDC this week, Apple revealed a new persistent widget system coming to Vision Pro in visionOS 26. The system will allow users to anchor widgets against walls or on surfaces that will always stay in the same place with glanceable info.
In a developer session released during WWDC this week, Apple delved into the new widget system for Vision Pro, exploring how they work, customization options, and more. Unlike typical Vision Pro windows, which float in space wherever the user places them (and will relocate when the headset is recentered or rebooted), widgets can be placed against walls or on flat surfaces and will always stay in that place, even if the headset is restarted. This makes widgets on VisionOS 26 act like persistent parts of your physical environment.
Apple explained that the system supports existing widgets built for other Apple platforms (like iOS and iPadOS), which means there will be a wealth of widgets for Vision Pro users. But Apple has also extended its WidgetKit platform with new options that are specific to Vision Pro. That includes new sizes and aspect ratios to choose from.
Additionally, developers will be able to choose between a ‘paper’ and ‘glass’ overlay which will define how the widget responds to the lighting in the user’s space.
For widgets with static info like photos or cover art, Apple suggests the paper style so that they will dim with the room’s lighting, making them appear more like part of the actual room.
For widgets that present dynamic information, Apple suggests the glass style, noting that information on the glass style will stay illuminated to ensure it’s always easy to see.
Widgets made for VisionOS 26 can also be proximity-aware, allowing the widget to change between states based on how near or far the user is from the widget. This enables developers to show simplified information (like weather conditions) from across the room, then surface more detail when the user gets closer (like the upcoming week’s forecast).
Among the new first-party Apple widgets that are specific to Vision Pro is an album poster which shows album art on the wall and then plays the album when the user clicks on it. Another is a ‘photo window’ that allows you to create a virtual window with a panoramic photo that makes it seem like you’re actually looking out into the scene. However, these photos are flat for now rather than spatial.
The Clock widget has gotten an overhaul with new designs and enhanced detail for viewing up close.
Apple really wants widgets to feel not like floating windows but part of the user’s actual space. Thus, they must be placed against walls or on flat surfaces, and they will also be occluded by other virtual content and by the real world environment, like furniture or walls.
To keep widgets grounded as part of the real environment, they are always contained within a frame that casts a realistic shadow.
While developers have new tools for making widgets on Vision Pro, users are also given a range of customization options.
Widgets can be adjusted to be 75% to 125% of their original size. They can be ‘elevated’ to sit on the wall like a picture frame, or ‘recessed’ which sinks them slightly into the wall, making them feel like part of it. When in ‘elevated’ mode, users can define the thickness of the frame.
Users can also choose between a handful of colors, in both light and dark variations.
When arranging widgets against a wall, nearby widgets will automatically snap into a grid arrangement for easy grouping.
Widgets can be interactive, allowing a user to, for instance, check off a to-do list item by using look-and-pinch or physically touching the widget. If a widget doesn’t have specific interactions, interacting with it will launch the parent application by default.
Widgets are already available in the VisionOS 26 developer beta that released this week, and is expected to be released to the public this fall.
The post Apple Details Vision Pro’s New Persistent Widget System Coming to VisionOS 26 appeared first on Road to VR.
Android 16 Is Here
An anonymous reader shares a blog post from Google: Today, we’re bringing you Android 16, rolling out first to supported Pixel devices with more phone brands to come later this year. This is the earliest Android has launched a major release in the last few years, which ensures you get the latest updates as soon as possible on your devices. Android 16 lays the foundation for our new Material 3 Expressive design, with features that make Android more accessible and easy to use.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
OpenAI adds the o3-pro model to ChatGPT today
OpenAI is keeping up its rapid-fire pace of new AI releases. The company introduced the o3 and o4-mini models to its ChatGPT platform in April. At the time, the business promised that a pro model of the o3 was on the way, and that version became available today.
Both the o3 and o4-mini models are meant to use and combine all the tools under ChatGPT’s umbrella. When OpenAI adds the “pro” designation to a model, it’s a version that has been built to spend longer answering queries to provide better and more accurate responses. “We recommend using it for challenging questions where reliability matters more than speed, and waiting a few minutes is worth the tradeoff,” the company said in the release notes for the o3-pro. In the testing assessments shared, the o3-pro delivered better benchmarks than the o3 and the o1-pro options.
There are some restrictions on the other ChatGPT services the o3-pro can use. Image generation and Canvas are not supported, so users will need to turn to different models for those features. The o3-pro is available today for ChatGPT Pro and Team users, while Enterprise and Edu customers will have access to this option next week.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-adds-the-o3-pro-model-to-chatgpt-today-212126136.html?src=rss
False claims that ivermectin treats cancer, COVID leads states to pass OTC laws
Modern medicine’s loss is social media’s gain. Since the pandemic hit, public trust in science and evidence-based medicine, like lifesaving vaccines, has declined. Yet, trust in the anecdotal and often bonkers health advice that endlessly swirls on social media only seems to have risen—and that trust seems unshakeable.
A perfect example of this is ivermectin. In the early stages of the pandemic, some laboratory data suggested that ivermectin—a decades-old deworming drug—might be able to prevent or treat COVID-19. The antiparasitic drug was initially used in the 1970s to treat worm infections in animals, but years later, it gained FDA approval as a prescription drug for treating parasitic infections in humans, including river blindness.
Before scientists could conduct clinical trials to know if ivermectin could also treat the new viral infection, COVID-19, the idea took off, mainly among conservatives. Anecdotes and misinformation ballooned.
Bluesky’s Decline Stems From Never Hearing From the Other Side
Bluesky’s user engagement has fallen roughly 50% since peaking in mid-November, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, as progressive groups’ efforts to migrate users from Elon Musk’s X platform show signs of failure. The research found that while many news influencers maintain Bluesky accounts, two-thirds post irregularly compared to more than 80% who still post daily to X. A Washington Post columnist tries to make sense of it: The people who have migrated to Bluesky tend to be those who feel the most visceral disgust for Musk and Trump, plus a smattering of those who are merely curious and another smattering who are tired of the AI slop and unregenerate racism that increasingly pollutes their X feeds. Because the Musk and Trump haters are the largest and most passionate group, the result is something of an echo chamber where it’s hard to get positive engagement unless you’re saying things progressives want to hear — and where the negative engagement on things they don’t want to hear can be intense. That’s true even for content that isn’t obviously political: Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who studies AI, recently announced that he’ll be limiting his Bluesky posting because AI discussions on the platform are too “fraught.”
All this is pretty off-putting for folks who aren’t already rather progressive, and that creates a threefold problem for the ones who dream of getting the old band back together. Most obviously, it makes it hard for the platform to build a large enough userbase for the company to become financially self-sustaining, or for liberals to amass the influence they wielded on old Twitter. There, they accumulated power by shaping the contours of a conversation that included a lot of non-progressives. On Bluesky, they’re mostly talking among themselves.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Razer launches its first barebones mechanical keyboard
On Tuesday, Razer launched its first keyboard for the DIY set. As its name implies, the BlackWidow V4 75% Barebones is the popular mechanical keyboard, only without keys and keycaps. It could be a solid option if you like Razer’s design and Chroma RGB but want to bring your own keys.
Otherwise, the Barebones BlackWidow is identical to the fully assembled variant. It still supports 3-pin or 5-pin mechanical switches and custom keycaps. It offers a polling rate of up to 8,000Hz with Razer’s HyperPolling tech.
Razer
Other details include factory-lubricated stabilizers for smoother keystrokes and dual-layer dampening foam. It even has pre-applied tape to soften higher frequencies. For a full rundown of the keyboard’s feature set, Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic reviewed it for IGN in 2023.
At $140, the black barebones version is $60 cheaper than the pre-assembled version. The white variant is slightly less thrifty at $150. (Unfortunately, you can’t get a barebones one in phantom green.) You can order the BlackWidow V4 75% Barebones today on Razer’s website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/razer-launches-its-first-barebones-mechanical-keyboard-205043334.html?src=rss
Mario Kart World review: Getting there is half the game
It would have been exceptionally easy for Nintendo to stick with an established formula for Mario Kart World. While the series has added a few crucial new features here and there since its Super NES debut, it has settled into an extremely comfortable groove since the 2014 release of Mario Kart 8 on the ill-fated Wii U. Since then, we’ve seen the franchise lean on nostalgia-rich DLC as it introduced a barely differentiated Switch port and a series of course-packed expansions rather than another distinct sequel. Save for the expert-level, ultra-fast 200cc racing mode, the broad strokes of a Mario Kart game have gone from staid to practically frozen in amber in recent years.
Mario Kart World doesn’t completely abandon the basic structure of those previous Mario Kart games; there are still twisty, turny, shortcut-filled courses loaded with items and opportunities to power slide. But it builds on that skeleton more than any Mario Kart game ever has, adding new modes, new driving techniques, and a new focus on the vast swathes of land between the intricately designed race courses. The result can feel a little inconsistent but also like a necessary shot of new ideas into a series that has been growing stale.
Too many karts
The first thing you’re liable to notice loading up a race in Mario Kart World is just how crowded things have gotten. The expansion to 24 racers on each track (from 12 in Mario Kart 8 and eight in previous franchise titles) serves as a good way to show off the added processing power of the Switch 2. It also provides a good excuse to greatly expand the number of selectable characters and outfits available in the game, which dredge up options from some of the deeper depths of the Mario catalog (your day has finally arrived, Sidestepper fans).
You Can ‘Fix’ Apple’s Liquid Glass Transparent Design
Change isn’t always easy. Case in point: “Liquid Glass.” Apple’s upcoming “26” updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro introduce this new design language that adds a transparent, glassy look to icons, menus, and windows. Some people are digging it, while others are hating on it. And the haters are hating.
I generally like the new look, though perhaps what I like best is that it matches across all of Apple’s products. It’s also nice to have a fresh look on Apple devices—especially the iPhone—for the first time in years. That said, I understand some of the criticisms: In the right conditions, these icons and menus look great, but depending on the background, it can be very difficult to read text or view certain elements.
Unless you download the latest Apple betas (which I don’t recommend you do), you won’t be dealing with these changes until the fall, when the company releases the official updates to the general public. But if you do decide to try out the updates at some point during the beta cycle, or you install iOS 26 or macOS Tahoe this fall and find you really can’t stand how transparent some of these windows are, there’s something you can do about it.
“Reduce Transparency”
As it turns out, a setting that has existed on Apple devices for years is now responsible for limiting the effects of Liquid Glass’ most overt design: “Reduce Transparency.” This is an accessibility feature present on most Apple devices that swaps the transparent effect on some UI elements with a solid background. The idea is to boost contrast and visibility for readers who have trouble viewing items through the transparency effect, even before Liquid Glass was ever a concept.
According to users who are experimenting with the beta, toggling on Reduce Transparency goes a long way to, well, reducing the transparency of the Liquid Glass design. You can see that here: Before the setting is enabled, the menu bar lets in all the colors and graphics of the items beneath it. Once Reduce Transparency kicks in, the menu bar is much flatter, which makes the text within it (especially the artist name) much easier to read.
If you find yourself drawn to the latter option, just enable Reduce Transparency when you update your devices. On iOS and iPadOS, you’ll find the option in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. On macOS, you’ll find it in System Settings > Accessibility > Display.
Because these OS updates are currently in beta testing, there’s no telling how things will change by the time Apple finally releases them to the public. For all we know, the final iteration of Liquid Glass will be much more legible than it is now. But in case you still find it difficult to use, or you just don’t like it, this setting should help.
2020s on Course To Be Weakest Decade for Global Economy Since 1960s, Says World Bank
The World Bank sharply reduced its global economic growth forecast for 2025 to 2.3% from 2.7%, warning that the current decade is on track to become the weakest for the global economy since the 1960s. The Washington-based lender attributed the downgrade to mounting costs from “international discord — about trade, in particular,” as Donald Trump’s tariff policies create unprecedented uncertainty.
The revised forecast would mark the slowest growth rate outside full-blown recessions since 2008. Even with a modest recovery to 2.4% expected in 2026, the bank characterized the outlook as merely “tepid.” Chief economist Indermit Gill said “outside of Asia, the developing world is becoming a development-free zone.” Growth in developing economies has steadily declined from 6% annually in the 2000s to 5% in the 2010s, now falling below 4% in the 2020s. The bank said that “many of the forces behind the great economic miracle of the last 50 years” have reversed, with more than half of low-income countries either in debt distress or at high risk.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Matrox Unveils Wild LUMA Pro A380 Octal Graphics Card With Dual Intel Arc GPUs
If you read that headline and thought “Who, now?” then you’re probably not a PC enthusiast or under the age of 30. If you instead thought “That’s a name I haven’t heard,” then you clearly don’t work in the medical imaging or digital signage industries. Matrox might not be a direct competitor with AMD or NVIDIA anymore—not since the fateful
Alarming Google Bug Exposes Account Phone Numbers Via Brute-Force Attack
A few weeks ago, we reported on Google adding a privacy feature that helps users remove personal information from search engines. To further protect users’ personal information, Google has patched a vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass key security features and steal Google users’ phone numbers.
To exploit this vulnerability, malicious
The Splitgate 2 Boss Is Still Talking About His Dumb Hat: ‘It Is Really Freakin’ Hard As An Independent Studio To Break Through The Noise’
An unusual email hit my inbox earlier today. It was from PR for the makers of Splitgate 2, a free-to-play portal shooter that released just a few days ago and stirred up drama with a MAGA-infused meme at Summer Game Fest from studio head Ian Proulx. “The CEO of 1047 Games has issued a video statement and apology to…
FCC threat to revoke EchoStar spectrum licenses draws widespread backlash
The Federal Communications Commission is facing widespread criticism after threatening to revoke EchoStar licenses for spectrum bands that rival firms, including SpaceX, want to take over. Opposition to license revocations came from conservatives, telecom consumer advocates, and some industry groups.
The Free State Foundation, a free-market group that has generally supported Republican priorities at the FCC, filed comments saying that “arbitrary” decisions would create instability in the market for wireless broadband deployment. EchoStar is now facing regulatory uncertainty less than a year after obtaining deadline extensions for its wireless network buildout, the Free State Foundation said:
There is widespread agreement that constructing and operating wireless broadband networks depends on significant private market investment. Legal stability is a necessary ingredient for the operation of any marketplace conducive to competition and growth, including today’s dynamic wireless market. Before risking their money in commercial ventures, private investors reasonably seek assurance that their interests and rights will be protected from changes in the rules or agency actions that are arbitrary or unforeseen… Rescission of deadline extension orders granted months earlier undoubtedly creates a type of regulatory uncertainty.
As previously reported, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr directed agency staff to investigate EchoStar’s compliance with obligations to provide nationwide 5G service under the terms of its spectrum licenses. EchoStar bought Dish Network in December 2023 and offers wireless service under the Boost Mobile brand.
Apple Music Can Now Translate Lyrics, DJ Your Playlists, and Start a Karaoke Session
While iOS 26’s Liquid Glass design deservedly got most of the attention at Apple’s WWDC 2025 keynote, there were still several other additions worth talking about. These include a bunch of new Apple Music enhancements, such as lyrics translation, a new DJ-like feature called AutoMix, and animated cover art on the lock screen. Here are all the new Apple Music features in iOS 26.
Lyrics Translation for your favorite songs
Apple Music has had time-synced lyrics for a while now, which works great when you speak the language of the song. However, it’s not as helpful when you’re listening to songs in different languages, and that’s where Lyrics Translation comes in. It adds translations below each time-synced lyric line, making it easy to follow the song’s meaning, too. This hasn’t yet been added to all songs, but I expect that to change over the coming months.
Learn how to pronounce lyrics correctly
Another iOS 26 lyrics upgrade lets Apple Music show you the correct pronunciations for lyrics in foreign languages. Not every song has lyrics in the Roman script, so if you can’t read the alphabet they’re in, this new feature will help you learn how to pronounce those words. It does this by showing you a transliteration from the original script to Roman, which makes it easier to sing along.
AutoMix is an AI DJ for your playlists
AutoMix is a new addition to Apple Music’s playback controls. You’ll see it alongside the Shuffle, Repeat, and Autoplay buttons. When enabled, AutoMix will analyze the audio features of songs and use DJ-like tricks such as time stretching and beat matching to deliver continuous playback. Some people may like this, but I tried this during a run today and I’m not a big fan. I make lots of custom playlists on Apple Music, and some of those are painstakingly curated by matching the sounds at the end of one song with the start of the next one. AutoMix undid all my hard work and made the transitions feel unnatural. This may work for some types of playlists and for people who don’t care much about transitions, but it’s not doing much for me.
Pin your favorite playlists
This is a sweet feature that lets you quickly open your favorite Apple Music playlists. You can press and hold any playlist in the Music app in iOS 26, and pin it to the top of the Library tab. If you’ve pinned your favorite contacts in Messages, then you’ll find music pinning to be a familiar feature.
Animated cover art comes to your lock screen
Animated cover art is one of the more visually appealing features of Apple Music, and now it’s coming to your lock screen as well. When you play a song that has animated album art, you can tap the player on the lock screen to see it in a neat full-screen view.
A karaoke feature for Apple TV users
Apple Music is also getting a new feature called Sing, which only works if you have an iPhone with iOS 26 and an Apple TV running tvOS 26. With all those requirements in place, you can use your iPhone as a mic and have your voice amplified by Apple Music to have a fun karaoke experience right at home.
Gabbard Says AI is Speeding Up Intel Work, Including the Release of the JFK Assassination Files
AI is speeding up the work of America’s intelligence services, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday. From a report: Speaking to a technology conference, Gabbard said AI programs, when used responsibly, can save money and free up intelligence officers to focus on gathering and analyzing information. The sometimes slow pace of intelligence work frustrated her as a member of Congress, Gabbard said, and continues to be a challenge. AI can run human resource programs, for instance, or scan sensitive documents ahead of potential declassification, Gabbard said. Her office has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the orders of President Donald Trump.
Experts had predicted the process could take many months or even years, but AI accelerated the work by scanning the documents to see if they contained any material that should remain classified, Gabbard said during her remarks at the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington. “We have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously — which was to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages,” Gabbard said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ubuntu 25.10 to drop support for X11 in GNOME
Jean Baptiste Lallement, a member of Canonical’s desktop team, has
announced
that Ubuntu will drop support for GNOME on X11 in the 25.10
(“Questing Quokka”) release set for October. GNOME plans to remove
X11 support in GNOME 49, which is scheduled for September, so
Ubuntu is looking to be proactive:
Ubuntu 25.10 is the last interim release before our next LTS (Ubuntu
26.04). By moving now, we give developers and users a full cycle to
adapt before the next LTS, align with GNOME 49 and reduce
fragmentation while simplifying our support matrix heading into the
LTS.
Fedora decided in
early May to drop X11 support for GNOME in Fedora 43, which
is also due in October.
Jigsaw Night Delivers Impressive Colocated Puzzling To Quest Headsets
A new puzzling game called Jigsaw Night should debut this week for Quest 3 and 3S headsets with an assortment of features so impressive it could draw in new VR buyers.
I tried out the single player version of the experience at AWE in Long Beach from long-time developer Steve Lukas and found myself immediately impressed with the depth of the work. You have your choice of hand tracking or controller tracking, for instance, and you can select both the number of pieces and their shape.
“Jigsaw Night was built based off that feeling building Lego and jigsaw puzzles with my kids. And so we wanted to replicate that whole experience, and what we’ve done here is we’ve created a social multiplayer jigsaw puzzle game,” Lukas said in a brief face-to-face interview. “What you can do is build jigsaw puzzles anywhere around your house, you can do more than one at a time, and you can play with multiple people at a time.”
The big feature here that might draw entire families together for Quest game nights is co-location using Meta’s Shared Spatial Anchors. You can play remotely with friends too, but Jigsaw Night first and foremost aims to create a digital version of puzzling in the same room with someone, with very few of the downsides. If you don’t finish a puzzle, for instance, you can put your pieces back in the digital box and then open up that box later and everything will expand back out to where it was.
The video below shows how Jigsaw Night looks and feels, with the option activated to show the puzzle’s picture to players on both sides.
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Lukas says they’re pricing the game for launch at $18 with DLC packs available. Buyers, however, won’t be forced to buy DLC for additional content to piece together because the base game includes Facebook integration, so you can grab a photo from there to “build old memories and create new ones.”
“You can cluster [the pieces] however you want, different family members can even cluster different colors. One person can take the edge pieces, the whole collaboration aspect is key,” Lukas said. “It’s about connecting families, connecting friends through the power of mixed reality.”
We’ll plan to interview Lukas soon for a more in-depth discussion and test the co-location features. You can wishlist Jigsaw Night on the Meta Quest store now, with Lukas telling us the game is compatible with Quest 2 and Quest Pro, as well as the 3/3S line. There’s no firm release date, but it could debut later this week.